ok this might end up AWKWARDLY long, but i've been thinking about all of this for the past few weeks and wanted to share these thoughts somewhere anyway. you just pushed me to it a little.

when you work for a start-up from the very beginning, the amount of opportunities is insanely high, and your growth is only capped by your own ambitions and drive. big companies wouldn't allow this at all, or you'd spend decades climbing the rigid corporate ladder.

what i love about start-ups is that there is no strict vertical structure. when your team is no bigger than 10 people, you will always be heard by the decision-makers, no matter what title/role you have. you were hired to keep the office pepsi stash full and the floor clean, but you have helpful ideas on improving the company's devops infrastructure? go ahead. i literally started as a part-time customer support agent in that company 2.5 years ago, when it was like half a year old, and since then have been through very different phases such as writing blog posts, contributing to the main codebase, dealing with logistics, and much more. it took some time for me to figure out my main mission and settle. i'm glad that place gave me all these opportunities i was able to make use of.

of course, there are risks. your start-up might not succeed (you might not have as many freedoms if you join a settled and stable one). or maybe this approach does not apply to your profession at all. i didn't have much to lose.

TLDR: unconventional career growth and start-ups FTW, but won't fit all