Re: Early contracting experiences? Learning the haard way! (1 of 2...)

[Charles E Vermette <cvermette -at- juno -dot- com>]

On Fri, 30 Aug 2002 10:39:29 -0700 Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
writes:
> I understand why you make this comment. However, personally, I'm not 
> willing to abandon startups. Because you're involved with the 
> initial organization, startups give lots of opportunity for taking 
> responsibility and for trying new things. At a startup, you're 
> almost guaranteed not to be bored...
 
> The downside is that many startups are great on promises and 
> enthusiasm,  but bad on following through and on paying bills. That's
especially 
> true at companies so small that they have no one handling
finance.Often, 
> such companies don't mean to be slow paying bills - it's just that the 
> details of finance aren't important to their executives.
 
Bruce's comment is a perfect example of why it's important to know
yourself and preferences...and everything he says is correct. If you're
new to contracting, you  might want to compare his posts to mine and see
which matches your temperament more. There is room to grow with both
perspectives. 
 
The only thing I'd like to counterbalance is this: Bruce is absolutely
right about the opportunity to learn and grow at startups, but there are
plenty of opportunities for growth and responsibility at larger companies
as well - and these opportunities have the following advantages:
 
- large established companies have resources that startups don't have,
and:
- your  marketability *goes up* when you can claim experience/achievement
with a large company 
 
(For myself, I'd rather I wrote a manual for Honeywell then say I wrote a
manual for a startup. The former gets more marquee value. To be fair,
saying you were at the helm when a successful startup is launched is very
marketable in some corners.)
 
Lastly, I find that the opportunity and responsibility gained from a
startup is not worth the lack of follow-through or irregular payment
Bruce mentions. I also (and this is *totally* a preference issue) don't
like the inherent confusion in a startup environment. 
 
Occasionally, I'm asked to consider a startup opportunity, and I do so
just to make sure I don't get too set in my ways. So far, I always come
back to the conclusion that startups are not for me. I make more money,
with less hassle, dealing with established companies. YMMV.
 
Chuck

Charles E. Vermette
85 Washington Park Drive, Norwell MA 02061
781-659-1836
e-mail: cvermette -at- juno -dot- com
web: http://www.charlesvermette.com

Charles E. Vermette
85 Washington Park Drive, Norwell MA 02061
781-659-1836
e-mail: cvermette -at- juno -dot- com
web: http://www.charlesvermette.com


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