Pro tip: I took a pay cut to leave a big company for a small startup and it was the best move I ever made.

Two years ago, I had to pick between staying at my safe corporate job making $85,000 a year or jumping to a 12-person startup for $65,000. Everyone told me I was crazy to walk away from that kind of money and the fancy office. I did it anyway because I was just a cog at the big place, doing the same reports every month. At the startup, I got to own projects from day one. In my first six months, I helped build a client system from scratch that we now use for half our sales. The learning curve was insane, but I grew more in one year than in five at the old job. My salary is almost back to where it was, but the skills and responsibility I have now are worth way more. Has anyone else made a similar jump and how did you handle the money part at first?

3 comments

3 Comments

rosebarnes1mo ago

My friend did the same and now runs their whole tech team, lol.

davis.ruby1mo ago

That's a cool story for sure, but honestly it feels like a real outlier. Most places still put a ton of weight on formal degrees or specific job titles. Getting that kind of big jump without the usual background seems super rare these days. The tech job market just feels a lot more locked down than those one-off success stories make it seem.

williams.jenny25d ago

Nodding along with you @davis.ruby, that's pretty much what I see too. Most places I know still want that degree or a specific title on your resume before they'll even look at you. The jump stories are nice to hear but they don't change how most companies actually hire. It's like winning the lottery.