Discipline Versus Speed Career Bets | Generated by AI
You’ve put your finger on a really important contrast: the discipline of long-lived banks like HSBC and DBS versus the “burn fast, spend big” style of many Chinese startups or even whole sectors like mobile internet and EVs. Let me break down the lessons and what they mean for you as a software engineer choosing where to place your career bets.
1. Cost Discipline vs. Growth at All Costs
Banks such as HSBC and DBS operate with very tight cost management because they know stability and longevity matter more than chasing explosive short-term growth. Their business is regulated, capital-intensive, and inherently risk-averse. That discipline is why they survive for centuries.
Many Chinese startups (Neta, Jiyue, or earlier ones like Wowotuan) took the opposite path—paying high salaries to poach talent and spending heavily on user acquisition. That created a “survival lottery”: if they became category leaders (like Meituan or ByteDance), the burn was justified. If not, they collapsed quickly.
Lesson: cost discipline isn’t exciting, but it’s a survival trait. Companies that lack it are gambling, not planning.
2. Industry Context Matters
- Banks/Finance: Stability, strong governance, risk control. Less explosive upside but long-term job security.
- Tech Startups: High upside if they win, but also high failure rates. Your personal earnings might spike quickly, but continuity is uncertain.
- Chinese Internet/EV space: Often a “winner-takes-most” market. If your company is not in the top 2–3, chances of survival are slim.
Lesson: before joining, ask yourself: is this an industry where “discipline and regulation” or “speed and risk” dominate? Your tolerance for risk should match the sector.
3. Signals of a “Wise Choice” Company
As a software engineer, you can look for:
- Unit economics: Is the company actually making money per customer, or is it subsidizing growth?
- Burn vs. runway: Does the company rely on continuous fundraising, or can it sustain operations on its own revenue?
- Management style: Are leaders emphasizing sustainability (process, governance, cost control) or just speed and expansion?
- Talent strategy: High salaries are attractive, but if they’re out of line with revenue reality, it’s a red flag.
4. Personal Career Strategy
- Early career: Taking a bet on a fast-burn startup can accelerate growth and paychecks, but accept the risk of instability.
- Mid-career: Joining disciplined, stable firms gives you long-term credibility and stability (banks, large MNCs).
- Hybrid path: Some engineers rotate—first high-growth startup for learning speed, then stable institution for security.
👉 So the key is alignment. If you want learning + risk, startups may be right (but pick those with clear product-market fit). If you want stability + steady growth, disciplined companies like HSBC or DBS are safer.
Would you like me to sketch a checklist of questions you can ask during interviews to judge whether a company is disciplined or reckless? That way you can apply this thinking systematically.