Since I've seen a few similar threads and most of us here tend to have IT careers, here goes...
I'll apologize here for any ranting below :)
Currently working for a large corp. Since starting my professional career, this is all I know (previously retail, then first IT job was a smaller company). I've been looking into a tech startup, which is in a different industry, but seems to be looking for someone with similar job duties to what I do now. My main concerns are potential salary and working hours. Right now, I work a pretty solid 8 hours, though sometimes I work through lunch by choice/just don't feel like getting out lol. Occasionally, I'll need to work beyond this if workload dictates, but that is fairly uncommon - except for an on call rotation (may require zero work after hours, may get called at 2am every morning) and scheduled after hours maintenance every other month. I get paid extra for on call (regardless of work) and I usually get comp time for the other scheduled work.
First, I keep hearing (from current employees of this particular startup as well as general comments about startups) this is "not a 9-5 job". If I move forward with this startup, I'll definitely ask employees to elaborate, but I'd be interested to hear from those who have worked such a job what this means to you. I'm sure it varies, but I'd like to know what makes it not a 9-5 - long days? How long and how often? Are these surprises or do you at least know going into the day? Are working weekends common? How flexible is this? Is it not 9-5 because I might simply be on calls with other time zones/countries?
Sorry for rambling, but it helps me to get these questions down. The next part of the question is whether or not this is a "typical" startup. They've been around for about 7 years now and have just completed a large round of funding (20M+). They seem to be fairly established, in my uneducated eyes at least. So while I'll have to ask those who actually work there, does anyone have experience with a similar startup?
On the salary front, I'm slightly concerned as I'm officially "overpaid" by my current company's standards. Others in my dept in the same role make 15-20k less than myself (I negotiated well on my way in). I have no idea what to expect from the startup (again, who knows if it'll even go this far), but I do worry a bit about working (potentially) much longer hours for (potentially) a significant paycut (I assume most startups don't pay very well in comparison to a large corp, right?). This does have the potential to be a great learning experience if nothing else and it would significantly reduce my commute, but I'm slightly worried it'll invite additional stress into my life with erratic hours. Money isn't a struggle for me right now, but it's hard to walk away from what I make in relation to my hours/workload.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Let me know if I can offer any additional info :)