Don't read this if you love working in the corporate world.
When I graduated, the work playbook was obvious to many who graduated alongside me. Get into a graduate scheme, get a big name on the CV (the likes of Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Barclays...), learn the ropes in a structured environment where someone holds your hand for two years. I understood why someone would do that (pretty good salary for a 20 something year old) but I didn't follow it.
I joined a 10 person startup instead (now a lot bigger), and it was the single best decision I've made for my career so far. My mum still isn't fully convinced because her blood pressure doesn't seem to like my risk appetite, but we're getting there.
Within a short period of time, I was working on our client accounts onboarding, writing SQL queries in prod (not brought it down even once), jumping on calls to resolve issues. There was no six-week ramp period because the onboarding was the work itself. The company needed things done and I was there, so I learned by doing them and then trying to do them better. I think that cycle, repeated at a pace a larger company would never allow, rewires how quickly you grow. I believe that I've been able to genuinely compress years of learning into months, and the only reason is that the environment demanded it every single day (and that's not to my credit but to Metris').
I stopped thinking like someone who follows a process and started thinking like someone who builds one. And once that shift happens, I don't think it reverses.
I stopped thinking like someone who follows a process (an ex-nerd here) and started thinking like someone who builds one. And once that shift happens, I don't think it reverses. I must warn: it does make you slightly unbearable at dinner parties.
If you're graduating and you have the appetite for it, I say go somewhere that will overwhelm you. The brand name can come later. The instinct to figure things out when nobody's showing you how, I'm sure that it's the thing that compounds.
It's awesome to be at Metris, so if what I wrote here inspires you, apply for our open positions and maybe you'll end up at a place where you'd love to come to work.
Aryan