There is valid criticism to be made, but the negativity in this thread is out of proportion. As somebody who worked at Google for 5+ years, I'd like to emphasi

There is valid criticism to be made, but the negativity in this thread is out of proportion. As somebody who worked at Google for 5+ years, I'd like to emphasize a point: If you sustain good work [1] for a few years, you will be rewarded well beyond expectations [2]. Your compensation will depend on your performance, and not on your starting salary. I think this is unique to Google and maybe a few other tech giants. From this point of view, the generalization to 'big company' is flawed. But otherwise the points made by OP are true, and I wish more new grads would see it (and believe it). [1] Your overall contribution to the project is important. Whether you work 30 or 50 hours a week to get there, it depends on you, of course. [2] And those rewards do not depend on the stock price going up. That's just cream on top.