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I trust you are smart enough to be well aware of the kind of bias you are bringing to the table with this judgement, in addition to some plain inaccuracies (act

I trust you are smart enough to be well aware of the kind of bias you are bringing to the table with this judgement, in addition to some plain inaccuracies (actual startups - not AirBnB years deep into its lifecycle where the equity being doled out is not going to make you rich in an exit) regarding compensation vs giants like any FAANG. I am glad you are excited about working at startups. There are a lot of people on here with a LOT of working experience who have seen this game play out over and over and are not dazzled by a handful of giants making it out anymore. Yes, it’s probably better odds than the literal lottery. That does not say a lot. Anyhow, I’m happy you’re excited and am not going to convince you - clearly. Enjoy your weekend dude.

tempsy 6y ago
I guess I “won” the lottery working for one of the companies going public but all of these names have been highly visibly for nearly the whole past decade and an option anyone could have considered over a big corporate job.
- wolco2 6y ago
  If you have known about this company for 10 years and gotten in late your lottery ticket will look like you matched 4 numbers out of 6 with a few extra thousand. But you also took less money over that time so the amount drops. If you got in before anyone heard of the company it could be a true lottery ticket. What companies do you know that have been around for 10 years that someone should join today to get the next lottery ticket?
- VRay 6y ago
  Go to levels.fyi and retroactively give yourself an SDE2 / SDE3 job for the years you worked at the startup, then compare that to the payout someone would have had from working at AirBNB for the last few years. Even if you assume you liquidated all the RSUs as they vested, it's tough to say that the cushy, low-stress $300k+/year FAANG job would've been a bad choice.

tempsy 6y ago

I guess I “won” the lottery working for one of the companies going public but all of these names have been highly visibly for nearly the whole past decade and an option anyone could have considered over a big corporate job.

wolco2 6y ago
If you have known about this company for 10 years and gotten in late your lottery ticket will look like you matched 4 numbers out of 6 with a few extra thousand. But you also took less money over that time so the amount drops. If you got in before anyone heard of the company it could be a true lottery ticket. What companies do you know that have been around for 10 years that someone should join today to get the next lottery ticket?
VRay 6y ago
Go to levels.fyi and retroactively give yourself an SDE2 / SDE3 job for the years you worked at the startup, then compare that to the payout someone would have had from working at AirBNB for the last few years. Even if you assume you liquidated all the RSUs as they vested, it's tough to say that the cushy, low-stress $300k+/year FAANG job would've been a bad choice.