About (page 4)

Personally, I think myself lucky that I went through this phase. Everyone starts somewhere, and of course it's important to start in the sort of job you want to continue doing, so you get relevant experience. Working as a general-purpose programmer and bug-fixer is definitely a good gateway to a software engineer career. As a side-point, if you really want to make a lot of money, I don't think you can do it just me rising the ranks of a company. That takes more time and effort and has the potential to pay less dividends than the three major alternatives (see below).

1. Join a start-up. This is very, very risky, and you'll have to be very good at coping with huge stress, very dedicated, work very long hours (think 18 hours a day 6-7 days a week for at least the first 1-2 years), put a lot of money in, and initially get very little money out. An estimated 10% of start-ups succeed, but those that do tend to get bought out by big companies for millions. This is roughly comparable to a medium-to-high-risk share option, because although someone else is doing all the headwork for you you're still deeply entrenched within the success or failure of the company. And if the company fails, it might be difficult to explain this convincingly to the interviewer of your next job.
2. Start a start-up. See above, except amplify the words "risky" and "stress" and expect to get a more money out of it, assuming of course that it both succeeds and gets bought by a big company. This method is covered extensively and very well by Paul Graham in his book "Hackers and Painters" - a strongly recommended read. This is roughly comparable to a high-risk share option, because you'll get either all or nothing, and you will certainly have to put in the initial capital.
3. Keep moving companies every one year to five years. This is less risky and makes you less money, but you'll probably get a bigger salary in a shorter amount of time. Although less risky, it's still a gamble unless you're being head-hunted, are well-known, or are generally very good at your job and at interviews. This is roughly comparable to a low-to-medium-risk share option, because there's nothing forcing you to move - you take your chances as they come, otherwise stay put. On the other hand, it doesn't look favourably on your CV that you keep moving around companies. Says the interviewer, "he's moved within two years with his last two companies, so what's to say he won't with us? He doesn't look committed enough."
4. Be a contractor. You can earn big and fast this way, often earning double what salary-earners doing similar jobs earn. However, beware that you'll get the jobs that the salary-earners don't want, it involves longer hours (and it's sometimes frowned upon to turn down extra work), it can be difficult to get into (you're paid well to do a job you're an expert in, so don't expect much training and make sure you're good at what you do) and of course there's little job security. This is roughly comparable to a low-to-medium-risk share option, because whenever there's no work you can use your previous earnings to tide you over. However, if there's an economic downturn such as the bursting of the Internet bubble at the start of this decade, the contractors are the first to go. You might be out of work for a long while, and getting a permanent position in a company might be difficult because of the lack of jobs in the area.

Right. Anyway, I used my holiday entitlement to (go for interviews), found the job I'm doing now, left and started about two weeks later.

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