Those places (IBM, Oracle, etc.) also tend to pay much better than startups, have better equity packages, and more room to learn things. Just look at angel.co.

Those places (IBM, Oracle, etc.) also tend to pay much better than startups, have better equity packages, and more room to learn things. Just look at angel.co. It's common to see everything from "no salary" to "$90k", plus equity, in the listings for Bay Area startups. It's much more rare to see salaries above about $150k. These days working for a startup doesn't make any sense at all, for any reason, unless you're literally a founder (with double-digit equity).