This seems to be less about "tech" compensation than "startup" compensation, on a first reading. The bits about having to wait for liquidity don't apply when w

This seems to be less about "tech" compensation than "startup" compensation, on a first reading. The bits about having to wait for liquidity don't apply when working at a public company, and 4 year vesting schedules don't matter very much when you can sell immediately, either. The only factor there is the 1 year cliff, which, for discounting purposes, is not very long relative to the 30 year timespans referenced elsewhere. I'm between the 2 examples: I'm not a 20 year old, and not a 60 year old. I think I would still take the promise of a billion in 30 years, but, only if there were a reasonable floor to that promise. How high the floor would have to be depends on exactly what I'd be required to do to get it. In 30 years, I hope to be a few years into retirement, but still young enough that I'll have a decent amount of life expectancy left to enjoy it. This also means that, although I would be considered a senior engineer by now, I won't be looking to "cure cancer" with a 2 year old startup, as one of the YC job ads on the front page suggests, simply because the risk of joining a 2 year old startup is so high, and won't pay off for such a long time that the future discounted expected return is far, far less than just joining a public company now.