Negotiating: Potential compensation requires I get a promotion within the next year
I'm currently negotiating with a Unicorn startup in San Francisco. The total comp I'm requesting is above the band for the level they have me coming in at. The recruiter made it seem like this compensation was possible, but said because I'm coming in above the band I would have to be promoted within the next year or risk being fired. Should I take the higher TC with more pressure for promotion, or should I take a little less money for a little less stress? Has anyone had a recruiter say them to this before? Don't want to say the company because it will expose who I am, but they still have a lot of growth left. 2 YOE Current TC: 230k Asking for 210k
Take the higher TC. If the company is doing well and growing and you prove your worth, it will all work out.
Why are you switching job for less TC? keep interviewing until you can get higher TC.
Not everything is about maximizing TC for me. I didn't apply to any of the companies that could beat my current TC on purpose. I'm looking for an environment that's going to force me to grow quickly and where I'll have a lot of responsibility
It’s a start-up. If it goes gangbusters, you’ll be doing more and they’ll need you. If it flops, you made a little more money.
Take higher TC
Unicorns should outbid Amazon with paper money. My Uber offer was much higher than Google.
Take the higher offer. Is shit goes bad, move on and use the new tc to level up at the next company.
I am an EM. No company will fire you for making 50k more per year. Replacing you will cost them much more in terms of hiring and on boarding cost . The chances of getting fired is same with both offers. It's a typical recruiter tactics.
^ this /thread
Actually on second thought: With 2 YOE at Amazon you definitely aren't "entry level." That said, startups often try to lowball people. And if it's a web dev role, there are plenty of solid web developers with 2-3 YOE in SV earning $130k who would be happy to replace you. I was earning less than that in my last job at a startup, and was let go when I asked for a raise despite having JIRA evidence that I'd significantly outperformed the senior engineers who had already left the company on work that we'd estimated together. Web devs working in open source tech at startups are a dime a dozen in SV, and ramp up time is minimal since many startups use the same tech and vendors.
I had a hard time believing that someone will get fired for asking for more money
It was sort of an unusual situation. Half of the startup's engineers had already left because our funding was running out, and execs had been saying for a year that we were raising with no official funding announcement. We watched tons of VC's walk in and out of our office without ever funding us. Just before asking for a raise, I'd told them I'd start interviewing within a month without an official funding announcement, which was a mistake. They may have been trying to scare the remaining engineers into working harder and not interviewing. I was also bored as hell and had been wanting to leave for months, and had criticized many bad architecture decisions. (The experience taught me the importance of always making your managers and coworkers look good, and helping rather than openly criticizing.)
Anyway I regret not approaching a lawyer about it. I was so stunned that I just signed the severance agreement. With the JIRA evidence, I had legitimate proof that I was not a low performer and it was illegal for them to terminate my employment on those ostensible grounds. In fact, I was not even given a specific reason for being let go.
I say roll the dice. You seem like a guy who knows what he is doing.