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First startup, I traded nearly all of my salary over four years for stock options: $0 Second startup, I was told I'd get 5% of the company (no contract though
by civility 8y ago
First startup, I traded nearly all of my salary over four years for stock options: $0
Second startup, I was told I'd get 5% of the company (no contract though). I quit after a year without pushing the topic: $0
Third job was not a startup, but it was a fairly small company, and I've made nearly two million in tax deferred accounts having made a healthy salary the entire time. I'm retiring this year.
I learned a lot of great things at those first two companies, but I would never recommend a startup from a financial point of view. I almost joined a third startup, but I didn't, and they folded as well. I suspect you've got better odds going to Vegas and putting your salary on a number from the roulette table.
- rubicon33 8y ago"Third job was not a startup, but it was a fairly small company, and I've made nearly two million in tax deferred accounts" I would love to know how. Am I just stupid? How am I missing these opportunities? Someone above posted that 4 years at FAANG would net you $1,000,000 savings. And you're saying that a "fairly small" company netted you $2,000,000 savings? I am failing at life, apparently.
- civility 8y agoI've never worked for a "big" company, much less one of FAANG. Although, I knew a kid who went to Apple, and he did well. I also had a friend from Intel, and he did well too. My situation was much more than 4 years, but it was steady (exponential) growth at a nice rate, and I'm exiting in my mid 40s. Maybe I could've done better, but to the point of this topic, my one stable job did much better than the three startups I was exposed to.
- rosser 8y ago> I am failing at life, apparently. Insofar as you seem to be "keeping score" against anyone but yourself, maybe a little. Otherwise, not really.
- antaviana 8y ago99% of times success or failure is just a state of mind, so it’s pretty much your choice to decide.
- cyphunk 8y agoclassic :)
- mikekchar 8y agoPeople win the lottery. You don't ask "Am I doing something wrong. I bought a ticket too and didn't win anything". These huge bonuses, etc are handed out to people who either have really scarce skills or get lucky. Wikipedia[1] says there are nearly 4 million software developers in the US. If each were to receive a million dollars, then it would total up to 4 trillion USD (using US ways of naming large numbers). The GDP of the US in 2016 (same time the software developers demographics was reported) was about 18.6 trillion USD. The idea that a million USD is reasonable for a developer is absolutely laughable. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering_demographics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering_demograph...
- pm90 8y agoNobody makes a million dollars a year. Read the comment... it’s over their entire tenure at the company.
- nojvek 8y agoEven 4 years at FANG with million in savings is laughable. You gotta be pretty high up the ladder. It is definitely not the average.
- pm90 8y agoActually an initial grant of 600K in RSU's in a FAANG would probably net that much with 4 years of rapid growth in stock price. And don't forget the cash component isn't peanuts either.
- dyeje 8y agoI wouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. I often see absurb compensation packages posted on HN and have never seen anything close to them in real life.
- deanmoriarty 8y agoThe fact that you are doubting the information I wrote in the previous comment, suggesting the parent poster to not necessarily believe them, is disturbing. I can only say I truly got those packages and I’m an average engineer. I suggest you ask to the close friends you have working at FAANG if those are true.
- sjg007 8y agoThe 450k includes money for health insurance right and in lieu of stock? I heard that Netflix would allow you to select compensation based on how much risk you are willing to take.
- deanmoriarty 8y agoMostly correct, though I’m sure there were some employer subsidy for the health plan, and the ability to get some more advantage from the stock growth via something similar to ESPP. I didn’t dig too deep into that because I recklessly opted for the startup instead of FAANG :), but the best deal was FB: everything was paid for and they were also offering a fat sign on bonus of 100k
- dyeje 8y agoFirst of all, I didn't read your previous comment and you are not the parent post of the comment I replied to. I am sorry you are 'disturbed' by my skepticism of random people on the internet, but I don't have friends working at FAANG so all I have to go off is my own experience and publicly available info. Based on those, I find it hard to believe how many people here post that they make 500k+.
- deanmoriarty 8y ago
- faangthrowaway 8y agoJust to add some concrete FAANG numbers for comparison... I started at BigCo four years ago as a SWE, after my phd in a not-cs hard science. My starting salary was $130k, with about $30k for signing bonus and moving fees. At my first full year, I received an additional $60k in vesting equity, for about $200k total. Last year I made Senior SWE, which gave a bump to $165k base pay. Meanwhile, stock equity trickle has continued to grow, and looks like ~$100k this year. And an additional $40k from bonuses for performance, recruiting and general 'company has too much money' put the projected total for the year at about $300k pre-tax (and not including health or other benefits). I live afaict unusually frugally. I don't drive, live in a shared house, and don't have short humans to worry about. But I occasionally travel to interesting places and give ~$8-$10k a year to stuff I care about. After four years at BigCo, I've got about $450k in the bank+investments. So, not a million, but probably way better than I would have done with the startup scene... and it sounds like the one recruitment bonus I've gotten so far is better than most people ever see from a startup exit.
- tinkerteller 8y agoYou are also failing in life against someone who won lottery last week. You should have lot of regret about not going to that same store and not choosing those same numbers that lottery winner chose.
- SZJX 8y agoHe never specified how many years he worked there, and he's apparently already retiring? Maybe that's over a very long period of time so I don't see how you're "failing". Maybe you're actually doing much better.
- ikeyany 8y agoHow could you afford to work for the first startup for four years without any income?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- cimmanom 8y agoHow long have you been at the third company? What kind of tax-deferred accounts allow $2M in deposits in less than 50 years?
- deanmoriarty 8y agoThat's about ~25 years if one is contributing ~25k a year (reasonable 3% match + 18k yearly limit) and the accounts are yielding a nominal 8%, which is not incredibly impressive (5% real give it or take). Make the nominal interest 10% (probably more similar to the actual returns in the past two decades) and we get there in ~20 years. Contribute more (e.g. backdoor roth and/or mega backdoor roth) and we get there much faster.
- billhathaway 8y agoHow long were you at the third job?