Some people think working as a developer in a Silicon Valley startup feels like living inside a sci-fi movie. And honestly? Some days, it does. Other days, it feels like wrestling with a stubborn piece of code at 1 AM while your oat-milk latte goes cold beside you. Balance.

When I first joined the team, I expected polished glass offices, genius conversations, and robots delivering snacks. Reality? A converted warehouse with mismatched chairs, way too many whiteboards, and a fridge full of kombucha no one drinks. But here’s the thing—it’s perfect. Because everything in this place screams one message: we’re building something that doesn’t exist yet.

My mornings usually begin with a stand-up meeting where everyone looks half awake but still weirdly excited. The designers talk about user flows, the product manager speaks in timelines, and the CEO always ends with something dramatic like, “We’re not just shipping features—we’re shaping the future.” It’s cheesy, but it works. We all leave motivated.

The real fun begins when I put on my headphones and dive into code. There’s a rush in solving bugs that other people gave up on. A weird satisfaction in pushing clean code. A thrill when you deploy something and it doesn’t crash. And pure fear when it does crash and everyone silently looks at you.

Startups have a unique culture.