Working at a Startup — The Deep End

When I first decided I wanted to be a Software Engineer (at age 16), I knew one of the reasons was the collaborative nature of solving problems and being given challenging problems to tackle — ones that would require brainstorming and bouncing ideas off people. It was this exciting, collaborative nature that drew me to wanting to be a SWE.

As someone who has now experienced consultancy, startup, and big tech in the span of my career so far, I can say that working at an early-stage startup is something everyone should do. They say startup life isn’t for the faint-hearted, but I believe the autonomy I was given and the fast-paced culture met this childhood desire for collaborative, high-stakes work. It also stretched and grew me — not only as an engineer, but as someone who is able to think in systems and always look for ways to optimise.

Because one thing about working at a startup is, there never feels like there’s enough time to get something done — so you must work fast and also smart. Here are three points that make working at an early-stage startup so impactful. Every good argument has two sides, so I’ve also included some points for why it may not be favourable — and how to consider when (how early or late in your career) you might want to give it a go.

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You will wear many hats

I would define myself as a Fullstack Backend Engineer; however, when joining the team, my responsibilities spanned from architecting solutions, testing, debugging AI code, data engineering, data pipeline work, system design, ensuring monitoring and reliability of the system, communicating technical messages to clients, and even taking on tech lead responsibilities — the list goes on.

Every day was new and dynamic. I remember one of the first things I said to my team was something along the lines of, “Just throw me into the deep end”. At a startup, you pick things up as you go. You have to be quick to adapt and not afraid to move fast and break things. However, there are some growing pains when you start balancing between going fast and ensuring system reliability.

Being able to wear many hats taught me how to approach problems from different angles and strengthened my ability to learn quickly and think creatively.

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Increased ownership

One way I loved describing working at an early-stage startup to friends and family was that it felt like going to war — and your teammates were your comrades. Because the team was quite small, there was a greater sense of responsibility for the work I did.

I’d often ask myself questions such as:

• How can I develop this in a way that fits into the whole system and complements the work another colleague has done?

• How can I ensure that if I go on leave, my teammate can easily pick up what I’ve done (and vice versa)?

When the team is small and the work is large, you gain great autonomy and ownership over the problems that need to be solved. It was deeply rewarding to own a task from ideation, system design, and creation through to monitoring. Seeing a system you’ve built work end-to-end is incredibly satisfying — and the learnings along the way are invaluable.

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Learn to adapt quickly

A startup wants to survive. In order for the product to survive, they sometimes have to balance innovation with client needs. This means there will be a lot of shifting priorities, changing responsibilities, and unexpected asks.

Working at an early-stage startup taught me how to adapt quickly to changing business needs and how to prioritise effectively. You become really good at figuring out what needs to be done now and what can wait until the next cycle. You also learn to communicate these boundaries clearly and assert what is and isn’t within your capacity.

If you’d like to work this muscle, I highly recommend joining an early-stage startup.

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Reasons it may not be favourable

• You may be responsible for your own career growth and direction; smaller companies tend not to have clear systems in place for levelling up or promotion.

• You are responsible for your own learning.

• Every day is going to be different — do you thrive in organised chaos?

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In a nutshell

Working at a startup is not for the faint-hearted — but it will strengthen your heart! I grew in tenacity, faith, knowledge, and adaptability. Now, when I join a team, my immediate thoughts are:

• How can I optimise their workflow?

• How can I work in a way that enables rather than blocks?

• How can I understand everything at a system level?

Being a Software Engineer is a rewarding career — it sharpens your brain in many ways. I’m grateful to God that I was able to experience startup life so early in my career, as it has helped me grow in confidence in my ability and taught me how to work above the noise.

Are you ready to jump into the deep end?

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A note of faith

I love to add some biblical wisdom to my blogs, as I believe every step of my career is orchestrated by God. One verse that was an anchor for me during my startup stint was:

Colossians 3:23–24

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

I pray that if this is a step you want to take in your career, this blog has encouraged you.

All the best,
Muna