Open Letter from an Employee at Channelier...

I completed my graduation in the year 2014 from Delhi and had to officially ‘escape the city’, for pursuing the job which was offered to me years after juggling around innumerable subjects of Computer languages, Communication, Networking, Electronics and what not. So I jumped in at the first opportunity. It couldn’t have been better, a big multinational company, global leader in business and technology, with over 200,000 employees.

Nine months into it, everything seemed perfect on the surface. Except, for the simple fact, I was learning nothing. I was not getting any chance to even test my calibre, forget about enhancing it. There was one more minor problem.

‘I hated what I was doing'

It was not a sudden realisation. I was four months into training when I started feeling that this is not taking my career anywhere. I knew something was wrong, even though I could not put my finger on it, and I had to do something about it. I tried what was best in my limited understanding, work hard by devoting evening and weekends, but something was still wrong. So I thought it was perfect when I was offered a product management role at a Startup. But confusion was not to leave my life so easily. I remember words said by my colleagues and my seniors.

"You are jeopardizing your career"

These words wouldn’t get out of my head. I was leaving something ‘Secure’ for something that wasn’t. And it is not that I did not realise that I was moving away from an ‘invulnerable’ world of traditional employment to a risk-loaded Startup. I thought many times that, what if I fail? But I knew with each failure comes experience and with each experience comes learning. And what was the other option I had, stay somewhere where I wasn’t happy. I thought that I might fail, but I would learn, or at least I would enjoy what I was doing along the way.

While working in a corporate world is full of glamour and has a charm of its own, I can definitely say that Startup is far better place for starting your career. Startups are better environments for letting you be you. Wearing a suit, having a briefcase in hand, learning to master biz-speak, and working with people who just want a salary and not much more – the glitz fades fast.

A lot of the kids who want to join Startups these days are attracted by higher packages offered by the heavily funded ones, and the chance to own equity worth millions. While these are undoubtedly positives, the entire set of benefits goes way beyond these. Get into a Startup and you’re exposed to everything at some point. I’ve done Social media, product management, Client work, sales, team leading, and more at the same job in less than a year. Startups give you a complete sense of ownership, Access to leadership, steep learning curve, room for creativity. The upshot of this is that you learn loads of skills and discover your passions and your strengths along the way. For some of us, it means diving deep into algorithms, creating lines of code never written before ever. For another set, you get to tap into the kid version of yourself that loved doodling, puzzles, and make-believe scenarios. Being creative is an innate trait that is often suppressed with time.

I would suggest listen to your instincts. Choose the right workplace for yourself which lets you on the path to your dreams….

-By Channelier Employee