Writing from Germany here. At your age of 20, getting a scholarship to study in the US, if your funding is solid, is a chance you should take almost no-matter-where-from IMO. If only for the college / campus life and living some years on a fundamentally culturally-and-otherwise different continent (OK granted, that's in both cases, US and EU).
Although it's unclear whether "joined a startup" means as co-founder, CxO, or some gig, might somewhat matter here.
As for "job experience triumphs college", for 90% of (even IT / dev) jobs that sounds like a ridiculous notion to me (the usually personally-interesting cutting-edge stuff is going to be both outside a job and most undergrad curriculums), regardless of how much edu quality may or may not have gone downhill in recent years. Sure, the big SV founder legends of yesteryear were mostly college drop-outs, but they weren't South Asians with a scholarship either. If their dropping-out had not paid off, they knew they could just return a few years later.
This stuff is so worth it. Even if there isn't much "college/campus life". My 3 years BSc. in the UK was pretty socially "isolated" except for a GF and her friend circle, but it was still totally worth it, slightly exotic and adventurous-feeling (20 years ago by now tho =) and had that college-town vibe I'd never known before, and with the workloads they had for students, I had a LOT of time to my own doings (whether freelancing or totally hobbyist — or in your case maybe, that startup or another, they come and go).
As for that Berlin non-tech startup? What are they even about, that might matter a bit here. There's an endless stream of rose-colored ventures cropping up and folding again all the time in Berlin (and other such "wanna-be startup capital of (insert county/country/continent)" cities), you know. I'd tell them of your unique opportunity and offer to continue remote + part-time for starters. Both are now much more culturally / business-wise acceptable, broadly, than ever before. If that's not good enough for them, split, else you can over time choose to "phase it down" or re-engage more-intensely as you like and time permits.
Also, gloom and doom (cultural-mood-and-zeitgeist-wise) once more proliferate and dominate on this old continent but especially this country currently (unlike say during most of the previous decade), but with that outlook direction Germany or east-of-it is always going to be a little extra-grim as a place-to-live on this continent IMO. I mean, for moving here.. anyone is welcome to, as far as I care, if that's their goal or need, but given the choice, I have a real hard time advertising it vs. countries / cultures like France, Italia, Spain, Portugal, even Britain.. That's a personal subjective bias tho =)
Another european developer here. Europe is a contintent full of old boring people and the IT sector is solid, but rather unexciting. You want to be where the action and the excitement is.
Do yourself a favour and study in the States.
Comments
Writing from Germany here. At your age of 20, getting a scholarship to study in the US, if your funding is solid, is a chance you should take almost no-matter-where-from IMO. If only for the college / campus life and living some years on a fundamentally culturally-and-otherwise different continent (OK granted, that's in both cases, US and EU).
Although it's unclear whether "joined a startup" means as co-founder, CxO, or some gig, might somewhat matter here.
As for "job experience triumphs college", for 90% of (even IT / dev) jobs that sounds like a ridiculous notion to me (the usually personally-interesting cutting-edge stuff is going to be both outside a job and most undergrad curriculums), regardless of how much edu quality may or may not have gone downhill in recent years. Sure, the big SV founder legends of yesteryear were mostly college drop-outs, but they weren't South Asians with a scholarship either. If their dropping-out had not paid off, they knew they could just return a few years later.
This stuff is so worth it. Even if there isn't much "college/campus life". My 3 years BSc. in the UK was pretty socially "isolated" except for a GF and her friend circle, but it was still totally worth it, slightly exotic and adventurous-feeling (20 years ago by now tho =) and had that college-town vibe I'd never known before, and with the workloads they had for students, I had a LOT of time to my own doings (whether freelancing or totally hobbyist — or in your case maybe, that startup or another, they come and go).
As for that Berlin non-tech startup? What are they even about, that might matter a bit here. There's an endless stream of rose-colored ventures cropping up and folding again all the time in Berlin (and other such "wanna-be startup capital of (insert county/country/continent)" cities), you know. I'd tell them of your unique opportunity and offer to continue remote + part-time for starters. Both are now much more culturally / business-wise acceptable, broadly, than ever before. If that's not good enough for them, split, else you can over time choose to "phase it down" or re-engage more-intensely as you like and time permits.
Also, gloom and doom (cultural-mood-and-zeitgeist-wise) once more proliferate and dominate on this old continent but especially this country currently (unlike say during most of the previous decade), but with that outlook direction Germany or east-of-it is always going to be a little extra-grim as a place-to-live on this continent IMO. I mean, for moving here.. anyone is welcome to, as far as I care, if that's their goal or need, but given the choice, I have a real hard time advertising it vs. countries / cultures like France, Italia, Spain, Portugal, even Britain.. That's a personal subjective bias tho =)
Another european developer here. Europe is a contintent full of old boring people and the IT sector is solid, but rather unexciting. You want to be where the action and the excitement is. Do yourself a favour and study in the States.