Thanks for your comment.

You make a lot of good points. I think working for a small start-up company is an option I shouldn’t have left out. It has a lot of the merits of both options, although less resources for training.

In your post, you refer to Greg’s comment, which is the following:

“If you are going to bring up Bill Gates to the discussion, you should ask the question ‘should a rich boy get a job or start their own business’

Best thing for a grad – join a small firm. Not a big one, and don’t start your own business. Join a small firm and learn learn learn.”
- Greg

I think no matter where they are, “Learn learn learn,” should always be a new grad’s first policy.

- Ivan

I’ve done both. I’ve worked for large publicly traded companies and I also ran my own firm for about 7 years before selling the majority stake. I can tell you both provide valuable and unique insight the other cannot provide.

IF you are fresh out of school it is better to join a large firm and gain insight and experience while you save money to seed your company and refine your skills. This is even more true if you have the attention of a recruiter. You may find it a little harder to get their attention later especially if you have a “bust” company under your belt and 5 years of effort out of school. Learn Learn Learn as Greg pointed out while you work for that big firm.

You may even find during that time you enjoy the environment and may not want to go the other route. Working for someone else allows you to really dedicate yourself to your craft and only your craft without concern for reconciling your accounts at the end of the month to make payroll if you know what I mean.

Working for a small firm is much like working for your own business. If you want a next stop down from working for a big firm and a taste for running your own business this is a good route. Here you will see first hand the many different hats you must wear and might love. You will also see how hard it will be to totally dedicate yourself to your craft with the level of time and attention you might be able to working for a larger company.

1 really important thing many folks forget about running their own business is to change their hats and to become a leader and business person first and a technical craft practitioner second. This is especially true in skilled trades and professions. A programmer just the same as a plumber cannot successfully be running their business and providing the driving vision and be in book keeping, marketing, human resources and all these different roles and still dedicate all their time to their original passion (programming or plumbing). Their vision and passion must grow beyond their craft and be refocused on running a business.