The company I currently work as DevOps is in the middle of an agile transformation and while it is interesting to see the transition happen, it is sometimes annoying having to deal with old or fuzzy processes to get things done, and I feel it gets in the way of my learning more often than I am comfortable admitting.
I am fairly at the beginning of my career, being 3 years in IT, only a year as full time DevOps.
What I fear if I accept the position I am being offered in this startup, is that I will be leaving a team of great professionals to be on my own, in charge of a big data project that is in its infancy. All the agile processes and infrastructure have to be implemented from scratch, and while it provides a lot of room for learning, being all by myself with limited resources could pose unforseen challenges.
I wish for some insight that could help me understand my choices better. Any opinion is welcome.
The startup will be fun and exciting most likely, it will also likely be more stressful but you will learn more in 3 to 6 months then in a year at most larger companies. You will screw up, you will define and redefine processes multiple times yourself because you've never done it (and likely they never have either), but you can also quickly change a bad decision to make it good without going through committees etc. This isn't a situation for everyone though as it is a lot to take on many times so you have to know if you are up to it. I do think being in an earlier startup takes somewhat "thick skin", where you are more resilient and confident in your abilities so you'll move forward even through the eventual mistakes. You will have online communities for help but at least likely initially, you'll have very few people internally to turn to for help, so it'll be up to you to figure it out and do so timely.
The corp role will move slower, you'll likely be more frustrated by the back tracking and slow progress then anything. This is the role you already know, if you produce you'll be safe for a long time and have a decent salary and benefits likely.
I highly recommend you try a startup while early in your career, you will learn a ton, usually have little to risk and it will pay off even if you decide to go back to the corporate world, plus you'll have no regrets of never trying it. This gets harder when you are married, have kids and responsibilities that require you to have more steady income and benefits.