Choose your own career adventure
Should you work as part of a team or strike out on your own?
There's an old saying, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."
In my season of soul-searching, one of the things I've struggled with the most is deciding whether to continue working up the corporate ladder or break away and do my own thing. This saying effectively captures the tension between working solo and working on a team. Working solo offers speed and autonomy. There's no need for approvals or coordinating with others. Startup founders and freelancers can make decisions instantly, pivot, and execute ideas without delay. However, working for an organization offers someone a diverse pool of skilled teammates and collective resources to tackle significant, long-term goals. It's the power of a team, the collective intelligence, and the shared vision that can be genuinely inspiring. And yet, the freedom and ownership of working solo is equally alluring.
When it comes to making a decision, it always helps me to make a pros and cons list. While I've not yet ventured off on my own, I do know several entrepreneurs who've proven it can be a gratifying path. For me, the most important things to consider (from least to most important) are:
Scoped responsibilities
Networking
Financial stability
Motivation/drive
Work/life balance
As I navigate this decision, I've come to realize that it's not about one path being better than the other; it's about the trade-offs. It's about understanding which of these paths aligns best with my personality, goals, and current stage of life. It's about the emotional journey of self-discovery and growth, a journey many of us can relate to in our own career decisions.
Scoped Responsibilities
When it comes to working in an organization, roles are typically specialized. For example, I'm currently a UX designer. No one is going to ask me to handle payroll or set up our tech infrastructure. The separation of labor in an organization allows me to have more profound expertise in one area without juggling multiple aspects of the overall operation. Solo workers, on the other hand, are the CEO, accountant, marketer, customer service rep, and more. A freelance developer has to be skilled in creating deliverables, but also has to invoice clients, file taxes, negotiate contracts, and troubleshoot software issues, often at the same time.
Now, just because I specialized in design doesn't mean I don't have to wear multiple hats. Depending on the size of your organization, you'll likely get asked to do stuff outside of the original scope of your job. Besides my UX tasks, I am also a part-time product owner, frontend developer, stakeholder liaison, and sometimes tech support for our apps. When you work on a team, though, you get the added benefit of backup. If I get overwhelmed, I can lean on a teammate to help me complete a project.
On the flip side, scoped roles can also feel limiting. Sometimes I wish I had the autonomy to make decisions without needing layers of approval. However, having total ownership in solo work fosters more creativity, adaptability, and a profound sense of accomplishment. You gain a wide range of skills and can pivot to learn something new to take advantage of an opportunity, like taking on a new client niche. The downside is the amount of time and mental energy it takes to manage everything, which can be overwhelming, lead to mistakes, or even burnout. Without the support of a team, a minor setback could derail progress. It also limits how much you can scale things, since one person can only do so much. But the sense of achievement and personal growth in solo work can be truly inspiring and motivating.
Networking
Networking is critical for professional growth, regardless of the career path you choose. The importance of networking should not be underestimated, as it can be a significant factor in your career progression. There are some apparent differences in how connections get built, maintained, and leveraged when working solo or on a team. When you get hired at an organization, you instantly get access to a network of colleagues and potential mentors. Some of these relationships have led to mentorship, collaboration, or even opportunities for advancement. These connections are built organically through meetings, projects, and casual office interactions. The biggest plus is the ability to easily find and connect with more senior colleagues in a role you aspire to reach, who can become a mentor, offering guidance or introducing you to the right people.
Another great thing about working for a bigger company is the opportunity to attend conferences, certification classes, or industry events. These activities provide access to external networks, often without personal cost. You get access not only to potential connections, but you get to be introduced to the latest trends and influential figures, which help to enhance your thought leadership (if that's a goal of yours).
The main challenges are that your networking is often limited to your organization's industry or culture, so you're likely to miss out on diverse perspectives. And oftentimes it can be challenging to navigate the politics and office dynamics when you're competing with your peers for visibility among leadership.
For those working independently, networking is a much more proactive endeavor. It may involve joining and actively participating in multiple online communities, local meetups, or platforms for freelancers and entrepreneurs to find clients and peers. This approach could expose you to a much more diverse range of perspectives than a single company or industry. However, these relationships are often short-term and transactional, requiring intentional nurturing without the daily interaction in a shared workspace. Unlike employees, solo professionals typically bear the cost of attending conferences, workshops, and joining professional groups. They are also more likely to need to build and maintain a personal brand through LinkedIn, and provide thought leadership content or share their portfolio to attract clients and peers.
Financial Stability
In these uncertain times, financial stability (or lack thereof) shapes how we plan our lives, pursue our goals, and manage stress in our careers. Working in a team within an organization offers a predictable income and benefits, providing a sense of security that can be reassuring. In contrast, solo work trades this security for the freedom of uncapped earning potential.
In an organization, a salaried position like my role as a UX designer provides my wife and me with a consistent paycheck, deposited every two weeks. This predictability offers us many advantages. Knowing exactly how much we'll earn each month allows for more precise budgeting. We can plan to spend or save without worrying too much about income fluctuations, which undoubtedly reduces a great deal of stress. Beyond salary, organizations often provide health insurance, retirement plans, paid leave, and even bonuses. These benefits offer even more of a financial safety net, helping to cover unexpected medical costs or ensuring long-term savings. However, with a yearly salary comes company pay scales and annual raises, which feel restrictive for those who try to go above and beyond their typical job duties. You also have to deal with negotiating raises or promotions, which could be either rewarding or disappointing depending on the outcome.
Freelancers and entrepreneurs operate without the safety net of a fixed salary. Their income is entirely dependent on their effort, client base, and market demand. Unlike a salaried employee, solo workers have no ceiling on earning potential. A designer could earn $5,000 one month from a single client and $20,000 the next by landing a couple of high-paying clients. Solo workers also bear the business costs for their software subscriptions, website hosting, taxes, and professional development, which could cut into potential profits and income and require more careful budgeting. They also have to manage income volatility. A strong couple of months might follow with a dry spell, making it challenging to budget and requiring a financial buffer to weather out the down periods.
Motivation & Drive
If you're like me, then you likely have a deep-seated passion of some sort. Something that fuels everything that you do. For those who read my last article, you know I'm driven primarily to help people (granted, it’s a vague passion in the grand scheme of things). This passion aligns well with my current organization, whose goal is to advance our commonwealth. They do this by providing education, healthcare, and resources to the people of Kentucky. This priority is something I can easily get behind. When you work for a company, you are signing up to align with a common mission or vision, which can either be inspiring or constraining, depending on how you connect to the goal.
A compelling mission, like advancing healthcare accessibility, fuels drive by connecting your daily tasks to a bigger initiative. For example, our team has helped to build a mobile app to make it easier to check emergency equipment like defibrillators or Naloxone, which could potentially lead to life-saving measures. Working for an organization also provides exponentially greater resources that they can direct towards a goal than a single individual could provide.
As an entrepreneur, you have the freedom to define your mission. If your passion is accessibility and public welfare, a designer could create accessible apps for nonprofits. Or if you are passionate about improving the educational opportunities for children, you can consult with education startups. You get to choose the projects and clients that excite you the most. You also have personal ownership over every success. Landing a high-profile client or launching an app can be very rewarding and drive you to keep going. Unlike companies, a single person can also pivot to exploring new passions as their interests evolve. A freelancer could shift from healthcare IT to sustainable tech, chasing emerging trends without needing buy-in from the larger organization.
Work/Life Balance
The most important thing for me right now is work/life balance. Spending time with my wife, doing activities we enjoy, and getting enough exercise are my main priorities throughout the day. With our first kid on the way in December, it's even more important to me that work doesn't consume my time and thoughts in the evenings and weekends.
Working for an organization like I currently do helps to support this balance. Salaried positions typically come with set hours (your usual 9-5) or allow for flexible schedules within reason. When I finish for the day, it leaves evenings free for family or personal projects (like writing this article). I also get paid time off and sick leave, which I can use to protect my free time further and prevent burnout. There is the rare instance that a critical system has an outage and you need to work late to remediate an issue, but working in a team provides you with a collective effort to aid in solving the problem faster.
Working solo also comes with its freedoms and challenges. Entrepreneurs and freelancers can set their work hours to align better with their rhythms. A designer might work a few late nights to meet a deadline and then take a few days off to recover, network, or pursue professional development. You can make time for family time or hobbies. On the other hand, solo workers often push themselves to secure clients or cover expenses, which can lead to blurring the lines between life and work.
A (sometimes controversial) perk that potentially applies to both working for a company and working by yourself is remote work. Some people enjoy the office experience and like to separate their workspace from their home life, but I'm not one of those people. I want the freedom to sit down at my home office desk, chat with my wife, get up to play with or walk the dog, and avoid annoying commutes. Again, everyone has different opinions on this, so you're mileage may vary.
What works best for you
Each path offers unique rewards and challenges.
I recognize I'm a bit biased in my comparisons of working for an organization versus venturing out on your own. It's what I've known for my entire professional career, so maybe there's a touch of comfort there. The collaborative strength of a team allows me to create impactful, user-centered solutions without sacrificing time for personal growth, even though the allure of going solo would allow me more opportunities to chase my passions.
In teams, I find a steady rhythm: a shared mission fuels my drive, predictable paychecks ease financial worries, and built-in networks of colleagues and mentors pave the way for growth. Scoped responsibilities let me focus on what I love, crafting accessible UX designs or driving design strategy, while supporting teams handle the rest. Work/life balance thrives with clear boundaries, leaving evenings free for family or writing.
Solo work, by contrast, is a sprint of autonomy. The freedom to pursue your passions, such as launching a startup or freelancing on niche UX projects, is exciting, with no cap on earnings or creative control. Still, managing clients, finances, and marketing can overwhelm and blur work/life lines. Financial volatility and the need to self-build networks add pressure, requiring high risk tolerance and relentless self-motivation.
Ultimately, the choice comes down to what fuels you. Do you crave the structure and support of a team, where shared goals and resources propel you toward long-term impact? Or does the thrill of forging your path, with all its risks and rewards, call to you? For me, the team game wins—its stability, camaraderie, and shared purpose align with my vision of a balanced, fulfilling career. But I admire the solo hustlers who sprint toward their dreams, building something uniquely their own. Reflect on your priorities, your risk tolerance, and your definition of success. Whether you go fast alone or far together, the path you choose shapes not just your work, but your life.