I just had an interview with a startup, where I would be working as a junior fullstack engineer. However, the most senior person in the company (of 4 devs) has three years experience in software, and comes from an electrical engineering background. They work a lot with AI, but they are looking to bring more structure in the code. I am supposed to work with AI also and I get to work on all three applications that they have. I said I don’t vibecode, I can use AI,but I need to know what I’m doing. They said I don’t have to vibecode, but sometimes they need fast delivery.

This would be my first real job. I’ve been working as a tutor for 4 years, so I’ve seen a lot of simple code and greenfield code, and I’ve written texts and taught classes. So I have some valuabke experience. I was looking for a job in an enterprise company where I can learn from seniors, but this might also be a valuable way to learn a lot of stuff. It seems kind of rigity, but also flexible.

I’m wondering if anyone can share their experience working in a startup. Is it only chaos and misery, or is it also a good environment to learn a lot very fast?

Edit: they went with the other applicant :(

  • one_old_coder@piefed.socialEnglish
    3·
    3 days ago

    I’ve worked with startups that were great, and where I had real responsibility and felt useful. I also worked with startups that were hell, where the shitty managers harassed people because they had no purpose in life.

    The moral of the story is:

    • It can happen in ANY company, big (100k employees) or small (3 guys in a closet)
    • You CANNOT know from the outside if it happens, you have to work with them for a few months to detect whether you’ll have fun or not
    • Try it because you’re young and you can leave early if it goes bad (and stay if it’s good)