> the startup side is long hours for a lottery ticket. It certainly can be, but doesn't have to be. The "long hours" part varies greatly depending on your role

> the startup side is long hours for a lottery ticket. It certainly can be, but doesn't have to be. The "long hours" part varies greatly depending on your role, responsibilities, and expertise. The "lottery ticket" part varies based on whether you're optimizing for salary or equity. I have always excluded stock options from my decision-making process. Sure, it's possible they could make me rich some day... but it strikes me as highly unlikely, and I'm planning on them being worth $0. Equity I consider a potential negative if the company hasn't had their IPO, due to the tax implications. There are startups out there that offer great salaries and quality of life out there, but you've got to look for that in particular. It also helps if you live or are living to live somewhere with a low cost of living and are willing to work remotely. I live in a small town and there are effectively zero jobs here that I'd want because the market is so small that they can pay much less than I want to accept. Working remotely allows me to compete on the global labor market, where the compensation is substantially higher. I'm not making the same salary I would if I lived in LA or SF, but it's a whole lot closer to that than if I worked for a local employer. The difference in housing costs alone more than makes up for that, much less the total cost of living. Here's a comparison between my employer's location (Santa Monica, CA), and the nearest city to me (Springfield, MO). Note that I live about an hour from Springfield, and the costs here are even lower: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+States&city1=Springfield%2C+MO&city2=Santa+Monica%2C+CA&tracking=getDispatchComparison https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...