I left Apple to join a startup that was then acquired by Facebook. I recently left after five years there to start another company. It takes a few months to get back out of the mind-set of consensus building, socializing ideas to avoid surprising anyone, and getting sign-off at every step. All of that is necessary to keep organization thousands and projects with hundreds of people on them operating smoothly.
When you’re off on your own, have to remember that you yourself are usually the main bottleneck. You have to figure out how to unblock yourself and context switch efficiently as you take on every facet of the thing you’re building, especially as it escapes purely technical work.
FANG companies do a great job of coddling you because it’s effective all around. You have to find your own lightweight substitutes for all of that.
When you’re off on your own, have to remember that you yourself are usually the main bottleneck. You have to figure out how to unblock yourself and context switch efficiently as you take on every facet of the thing you’re building, especially as it escapes purely technical work.
FANG companies do a great job of coddling you because it’s effective all around. You have to find your own lightweight substitutes for all of that.