I had an offer from a very early seed stage startup, X which I had accepted earlier without any negotiations due to being naive at the time. But I later interviewed for other companies as I had a big notice period, I also came across blind which made me gain more perspective of the job market, things like having competing offers etc. Now have another offer from a 4 year old startup, Y with 500-1000 employees but with a slightly lower comp which I don't mind. I know their hikes are reasonable and they are profitable right now. Y is pretty well established while X has some red flags as well like: 1. I am very doubtful about the work culture there coz honestly their interview process was shit and they picked me despite that being my second interview and I know I didn't know shit back then had just 20-30 LC done. (Now I have done around 230+) 2. They sent their offer in the form of a normal email without salary breakdown as opposed to giving me a formal offer letter. And had a clause in the mail saying formal offer letter will be given later and will take precedence over this mail. When I asked for a formal letter they said they will send it after their company is registered. Which it is now but they still haven't sent any formal letter. While the founders of X are pretty big guys and serial entrepreneurs, X will just have 4 employees including me and I am not sure I am even skilled enough to be responsible for 25% tech stack of a company. Is it okay to reject the offer from X over mail and not pick their calls (if they even call) since I am an extremely non confrontational person. Their joining date is 16th. Should I even be rejecting X and going for Y? Comp: Startup X : 30 🍌 (inclusive of every benefit) + 0.18% esop paper money Startup Y: (25+1)🍌 (excluding benefits like health insurance etc)
Damned if companies use LC to evaluate candidates, damned if they don't 🤷
They didn't ask good questions and accepted some answers which were just wrong. I agree LC is not a good test of skill but then what is? I didn't know shit about system design as well but they hired me without exploring it in detail.
It is fine , you have to do what is best for you, no one else is going to advocate for you, It was just an observation on how the entire hiring process is so LC influenced now , presence or lack of it ...
You’re already having doubts. Trust your gut and reject. No need to overthink it. It’s best not to live in regret. Go for Y if that’s where you want to be
I'm getting a sense of fear rationalization in your post, in that you seem to think you can't do the job at X and potentially looking for an out (and thus reasons why X is not a fit). I think you need to dive into this a bit more. Otherwise if you're comfortable - rejecting accepted offer this late never the best but beyond potentially burning a bridge you are good to go where you will (as someone noted above that you are your best and only career advocate )
You can give it a go for half a year or so. Meanwhile interview in hopes of landing a 100 x 🍌 job offer.
You can always resign. It's legal in most countries with legally-protected personal freedom.
They can fire you at will so you can reject at will.