My observation, at least at my level, is that the engineers who do best get seats on rocket ships that have already made it to orbit. Established companies gi

My observation, at least at my level, is that the engineers who do best get seats on rocket ships that have already made it to orbit. Established companies give out bonuses on good years that look like the payouts I've seen engineers get during realistic exits. I mean, sure, if you shoot the moon in your selection of startups, that's going to go pretty well for you, but I think on average you are best off, assuming you are an engineer, getting a very well compensated job at a top company and then putting the resulting money in a whole-market index fund.