Introduction: A Decade of Switching and Learning

It’s been over 10 years since I started working as a software engineer, and looking back, I’ve had the chance to work in a lot of different companies. Some of my friends even joke that I’ve switched jobs a bit too much—but honestly, each move taught me something new. I’ve worked at a tiny startup, a medium-sized company, a big corporate, and even a scale-up that was growing fast. And trust me, things can feel completely different from one company to another.

Along the way, I also went through more than a hundred interviews—not always because I was looking to switch, but sometimes just to gain experience, test the waters, and see what I was worth in the market. In this post, I want to share what I’ve learned from all these experiences: how interviews differ, how salaries can vary, and what it’s really like working in these different environments.

Working at a Startup

My first experience as a software engineer was in a startup. I joined very early, actually as one of the first employees. I’ve already written a separate blog post about that journey, but it’s worth mentioning again: joining a startup at an early stage is a very unique experience. For that first job, I didn’t go through a formal interview process. But later, I interviewed with other startups, and I noticed some patterns.

The interview process at startups is often similar across companies. Usually, it’s composed of around four rounds: an initial HR call (though most of the time, it’s not really an HR professional since they don’t have a formal HR department yet), a technical homework or take-home assignment, a technical interview, possibly a design interview, and then a final interview with the CEO or one of the founders. Some startups try to mimic big tech companies and add extra steps or try to appear more formal than they actually are.

One thing I learned is that while many startups will tell you that “the programming language doesn’t matter” or that they’re “looking for good engineers, not specific stack experience,” in practice, it does matter. I’ve had interviews where they were supposedly hiring a backend developer, but the technical questions ended up being very focused on frontend technologies. I even had an interview where I clearly stated upfront that I wasn’t very comfortable with frontend development, and yet they went ahead and asked me very tricky questions about their frontend framework anyway.

When you interview at a startup, remember: you’re also interviewing them. It’s not a one-way evaluation. Pay attention to how they explain their product or service. Can they clearly articulate the problem they’re solving? Or do they rely heavily on buzzwords like “disrupting the industry” or “changing the world”? Try to cut through the hype and see if you really believe in what they’re building—because that belief is crucial if you’re going to invest your time and energy into it.

Also, ask specific questions about their organization: How is the tech team structured? Are there senior developers? What’s their development process like? If you’re a junior developer, you don’t want to end up being the most experienced person on the team—you need mentors around you to grow.

When it comes to salaries, despite the popular belief that startups pay well, that hasn’t been my experience—especially outside of Paris. In reality, startup salaries tend to be around the same level as other companies, but you’ll likely be expected to work longer hours, often without additional benefits like bonuses, meal vouchers, or other perks. Some startups will try to make up for it by offering small “perks” like paying for your Spotify subscription (which, by the way, isn’t really legal and could get them in trouble with URSSAF). You might think of the lower salary as an investment if you truly believe in the startup’s potential and hope it pays off later with equity or growth—but be realistic: most startups fail.

That being said, the work environment can be very rewarding, especially for a junior developer. For me, it was exciting to work on different parts of the product and wear multiple hats. But it can also be stressful. You might find yourself taking on roles you never expected simply because there’s no one else to do them, and the work hours can be demanding.

Working for Consultant Companies (“Meat Merchants”)

Consultant companies—what we call “marchands de viande” in France—and honestly, it’s not far from the truth. My experiences with them ranged from bad to neutral at best. Sometimes you have no choice but to go through them, especially if you want to work with big clients like Airbus or others who don’t hire people directly.

The interview process? Pretty much nonexistent. Most of the time it’s just an HR chat asking about salary expectations and throwing around keywords from your CV. I even had one where they flat out told me, “We don’t care about your experiences,” when I started explaining what I’d done. They’ll give you the usual speech about how they’re different, how they’re a family, how they really care—but don’t buy into it.

Some people will tell you consulting is great because you can work on different projects. But let’s be real: if you’re good at your job and your client is satisfied, they won’t rotate you off the project. And honestly, you shouldn’t plan on staying too long with a consulting firm anyway.

I personally only spent a few weeks inside the consultancy before getting assigned to a client. Some firms don’t even have internal projects for you to work on while you’re on the bench—they’ll try to push you to take paid leave (which isn’t even legal) or delay signing your contract. I’ve seen it all. I’ve also experienced the pure boredom of sitting around with literally nothing to do for days—it’s its own form of torture. Another consultancy I worked with had an internal product, but it wasn’t interesting, and I barely got to work on it. Basically, unless you’re on a client project, it’s easy to feel stuck and unmotivated.

Once you’re on a client site, it really depends on the client. I had friends who didn’t even get a chair because the client expected the agency to provide equipment. I was luckier and ended up with a good client, but even then, you’re treated differently from full-time employees. You don’t get the same benefits—like choosing your hardware specs or having remote work flexibility. The client won’t do one-on-ones with you, and your agency manager? They’ll barely check in. Usually just two meetings a year. In my case, those meetings were mostly about making sure the client kept paying for me—and seeing if they could upsell.

I’ll never forget one meeting where I was completely ignored, and my manager invited the client to a restaurant… without inviting me. Honestly, experiences like that are why the nickname “meat merchants” fits so well.

Salary in consultant agencies is usually mid-level, with the basic legal benefits. But let’s be clear: they’ll try to pay you as low as they can while selling you as high as they can. I’ve seen cases where someone was billed to the client at three times what they were being paid. They’ll often tell you “the client won’t pay what you’re asking”—in reality, that just means they’re not good at selling you. Try to find out how much they’re billing you to negotiate better raises, but honestly, the best way to increase your salary in these companies is to just switch jobs or agencies. Especially early in your career, changing companies will get you bigger raises than waiting for them internally.

Working in Mid-Sized Companies

These companies, generally between 50 to 250 employees, aren’t scale-ups or tech giants. I’m talking about companies where tech is central to the product, not just an IT department or someone maintaining a WordPress site.

The interview process is usually straightforward, but can drag out depending on who’s involved. Sometimes you’ll meet the CEO or a director, and getting time with them can delay things. I’ve even seen a friend’s process take almost six months for just four interview rounds. On the flip side, some will have a very simple and even easy tech round.

When it comes to salary, it really depends on the company. You’ll usually get some benefits like a CE (Comité d’Entreprise) or PEE (Plan d’Épargne Entreprise). Most companies have a formal salary grid, but be careful—you still need to negotiate. Otherwise, they might place you in a lower bracket than you deserve.

As for work life, it’s generally manageable in my experience, but expect to face established processes that nobody questions. I once challenged a ticket that was estimated at three days—when it was literally about copying images from a Jira ticket and committing them to the repo. My team was surprised I even questioned it, especially in front of the PO. But you learn quickly: people stick to what they’ve always seen, or just overestimate “just in case.”

One thing I’ve noticed: there’s always that colleague who’s been there forever—15+ years. It’s both a blessing and a curse. Good because they know the product inside and out, they can explain weird features, or they’re the only one with access to some critical old dependency sitting on a USB stick. Bad because they often haven’t seen how things are done elsewhere. I once had an elderly CTO return to coding in my team and try to convince us to switch back to SVN because they weren’t comfortable with Git.

Another thing I noticed with mid-sized companies is that even if they’re profitable and financially stable, they’re often reluctant to invest in developer tools. At one company, despite sharing profits with employees, they outright refused to buy IntelliJ licenses. It wasn’t a budget issue—they just didn’t see the value or were too set in their ways. It actually took several years before they approved buying licenses, and even then it was limited to just one team and required multiple levels of approval. Maybe today IntelliJ is more widely accepted, but the same mentality probably applies to other tools and subscriptions in these kinds of companies.

Working for Big Corporations

The big corporations I worked for—or interviewed at—were often the result of acquisitions or mergers. So in practice, I ended up working in what felt like a mid-sized company, but under the processes, rules, and bureaucracy of a large corporate structure trying to unify everything. If you started working there before the acquisition, you might find it really hard to adjust. Teams get restructured, reporting lines change, and suddenly you’re forced to use different tools—sometimes outdated or simply terrible. They might even ask you to sign a new contract, and you risk losing benefits you had in the previous company, especially if nothing was formally guaranteed in writing. If you want to stay, you really have to adapt to this new way of working.

As for interviews and salaries, they’re most of the time similar to what you’d find in mid-sized companies. But you’ll notice different practices depending on which branch you’re interviewing with—because often, a branch is just a smaller company that’s been acquired and still kept some of its original processes. From what I’ve seen, if you’re aiming for big salaries, you need to move into management roles and learn to play office politics. But I guess we all already know that’s how it works in big corporations.

Working at a Scale-Up

A scale-up is basically a startup that’s well on its way to big success—or at least where the uncertainty of failing is really slim. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re profitable, even if they’re offering big salaries and benefits. Most of them are still burning cash, especially during times when money is cheap and investors are confident. At this stage, some are just waiting for an acquisition or an IPO.

These companies have a great mindset, and you can really feel that through their engineering blogs and public communication. They’ve got experienced people onboard—which is exactly why I said earlier that it’s crucial to have senior people when building a startup.

The interview process can vary a lot from one scale-up to another. Some will copy big tech processes and throw LeetCode-style challenges at you. Others will focus more on a take-home exercise, where you’ll later be asked to explain and defend your technical choices. One thing’s clear: most of them don’t hire junior developers, and sometimes not even mid-level.

When it comes to tools and tech, scale-ups don’t hesitate to invest if something brings a big ROI. Engineers often have real ownership over their scope and freedom to choose what’s best for their projects. This means ways of working—and even tech stacks—can vary a lot from team to team. That’s why it’s really important to find out which team you’re joining and how they actually work in practice.

Salaries are generally at the higher end, and some companies might offer BSPCE (stock options). But be aware: they’re often not as valuable as they’re made to sound. You really need to understand how they work. Some will tell you they’re offering “XXk€ of BSPCE,” but what that really means is that you’ll have the right to buy shares at a fixed price. If the company’s share price doesn’t grow much, you’re probably getting just a few euros at best. And once a company has already reached the scale-up stage, the odds of those shares skyrocketing aren’t always in your favor.

When the money is no longer free and interest rates go up, things can get tricky in these companies. Some will start cancelling projects, which leads to layoffs and restructuring. They’ll look for ways to cut costs everywhere—and you’ll feel it directly: you might be asked to reduce your team’s budget or drop certain tools you’re paying for. There’ll be cuts on travel, offsites, and conference budgets. Suddenly, the great perks start disappearing, and the atmosphere shifts.

Big Tech Companies

There’s nothing I can really teach here. I’ve only gone through some of their interview processes—and I didn’t get that far either. Maybe I’m not that great for them, or maybe I’m just really bad at LeetCode.

From what I’ve seen, most of the people I know who joined big tech companies did so right after school. They worked on a good project during their studies and got lucky, I guess. They were certainly good—but they weren’t geniuses. So don’t fall for the idea that only geniuses get in. It’s more complicated than that, and timing and connections often play a role too.

Conclusion

Everything I’ve written here is based on my own experiences and what I’ve heard from colleagues. It’s not the general rule—you might have very different experiences depending on the company, the country, or even just luck. But I believe many of these patterns tend to repeat themselves.

If you’re a junior, my advice would be to aim for a scale-up or a startup you really believe in. After that, try to go directly with clients if you can. I’d keep consultant agencies as a last resort, and if you go that route, be very clear about what you’re signing up for.

Also, take your time. Do multiple interviews, even if it’s exhausting. Don’t hesitate to change companies if you feel you’re not learning or progressing. Those first years are crucial—they set the tone for the rest of your career.