I received my offer to join Google in November 2009. It was my top choice and once I received the offer I stopped interviewing elsewhere. Google offered me a generalist position. It was so generalist that I had absolutely no idea what I would be doing until I started work eight months later.

A lot of things changed for me between the time I got my offer and when I started mid-July. I worked for two startups on products millions of users would see. I had three things I valued dearly: control over my work, impact on users and learning a wide range of skills. With control, I was able to learn fast, iterate and implement what I thought was necessary with little oversight. For my age and experience, that was empowering and I did not take my responsibilities lightly. I had a tangible impact on users and I loved it. I worked on different features and products and every day was exciting.

I left the startup world to be a ‘grown-up’ and work a regular job with a 401K, benefits and free food at a company that was making interesting products. Unfortunately, when I finally started my job at Google and knew what I would be doing day-to-day (If you’re curious, read this post), I found that I didn’t have the three things I valued most.

This is not some impassioned post about how big companies stink and start-ups rule – my former Google team is full of intelligent and kind people. My advice for young people just starting out is to go where you will learn the most – if that’s a startup or Microsoft, go for it. It is not about the money or the perks or even the people. I’ll work double my former hours at a startup as the second (or first if you count my time before Google – it’s debatable) employee and no matter the outcome, you can bet I’ll learn something.