Start up's offer more freedoms. I'd argue the jobs are more fulfilling and the right start-up may offer you more incentives. Additionally, you seem well educate

Start up's offer more freedoms. I'd argue the jobs are more fulfilling and the right start-up may offer you more incentives. Additionally, you seem well educated with a lot of experience, getting 165k somewhere may not be an option some less experienced engineer may receive. Also, a younger less experienced developer may not have a family, or have more freedoms to gamble on that .1% equity (and perhaps more with stock options). But most importantly, I feel the emphasis on the beauty of start-ups are focused on the entrepreneurs and founders rather than later stage engineers where the offers may be more balanced/skewed.