Hey Blinders, I have really appreciated being able to gather insights from folks with more experience in tech here to help me along my own journey in the industry, so, first of all, thank you! With all the advice etc. I've gotten on here and elsewhere, I'm now in the process of deciding between 4 good offers, and was hoping you could help me weigh them. Quick background, I'm an MS new grad with some entrepreneurial experience and want to one day try starting my own company again, and thus really want to pick the option that'll best prepare me to do that, even if it means a little less TC. Flipside is that more TC now could give me the cushion I need to do something riskier later. Also, Adobe offer expires EOD on Tuesday hence this post coming before 2 formal offer letters which I expect tomorrow. 1. Return offer at Adobe: $130k base, $135k RSU / 4 years, $20k signing. Would be working on a creative cloud desktop software product. I'm a little worried about learning to build outdated products (desktop), and getting too comfortable with the slower pace, and relaxed WLB. 2. SDE II at Amazon: Comp info coming tomorrow afternoon, will update here. Working in Employee Services Tech, on a new Learning Platform team to consolidate all the learning platforms at amazon and create a new state of the art product in its stead. A little worried about all I've heard about toxic work culture at Amazon, but have heard ES Tech is better than other places. 3. Series D Startup in Los Angeles: Comp info coming soon. Full-stack development for an on-consumer tech company that's raised $300M to date. Cool product, a lot of smart people on the team, but got (kind-of) strage vibes from the team during the interviews, not very personable. Didn't seem like folks are super friendly there, but very professional. 4. Series C (but ~9 year old) startup in San Francisco. $115k base, stocks ~.001% ownership stake in the company, but a liquidity event looking unlikely. Offer is to be the second Product Manager on a deep learning-based product that is essentially a startup within the original startup (20 engineers, 1 lead PM, 1 salesperson, and me, the original product has a team of about 100). Potential for some rapid growth, the business has 10x in ARR in the last year and is looking to keep that trajectory. Sorry for the long post, I really appreciate any feedback. I will update this as offer specifics roll in, and happy to answer any clarifying questions as much as I am able. Some company names omitted because they're small enough that I'd lose anonymity. Cheers!
IMO, if you can start with a big name, then do it. Get some easy money out of college, even if it means sacrificing wlb, it's easier to do that when you're young. Your reasons for not going to Adobe seem valid, so Amazon is the only choice left by my logic. I currently work for a series A startup, for context on my perspective.
I'd say go with regret minimization, do now what you can't do in the future. Amazon and Adobe dev jobs seem plentiful, so do the Series C product management or Series D in LA, esp. if you feel excited about them more than the big names.
Thanks - this is really helpful. I think I am definitely more excited about the opportunities at the startups for sure.
I'd go Adobe or Amazon, depending on the comp from Amazon.