I have offers from self-driving startup and a big tech company.
On one side I really like self-driving vehicles, and position is very nice. That's very close to what I was looking for.
On the other side big company name will look much better on my resume, but there is risk the project won't be so exciting.
As for the money - startup offer is very good and TC is much higher, but stocks cost $0 at the moment and big tech offer is about $100k higher in real dollars.
What do you think?
comments
Odds are, most startups won't pay off as much as your offer.
Build up your wealth through FANG.
Once you have a net worth of $2M, go do a start up.
FYI we use cameras like you use your eyes when driving.
https://youtu.be/4mSBu1WwokM
I had Amazon, WeWork and a well known pre-ipo startup offer.
Startup is an old company that has big potential to go ipo in few years, valued at 3 billion. They already make money.
WeWork offer was great, 30k more on base, 75k more signon first year. It was giving good amount of RSU.
Amazon 180k plus classical Amazon signon and RSU. It was averaging to 295k per year.
Startup 200k, sign on, great cash benefits, even FB does not give. In addition stock options which I hope valued something if it goes for ipo.
I selected startup. This is the second time I reject FANG offer. Fang usually does not offer best projects to new comers. That is the downside in my case.
I also want to add, self driving cars sounds exciting, but it is very hard problem. The risk profile is a lot higher than my option.
Blind people want to be on safe side. Do things they do not enjoy much, jump between fang to increase salary etc.. Reaching 4m can take significant amount of time, you will miss many trends. Probably more than 10 years.
Go for it if you believe in startup, not only mission but feasibility of the product. Hope it gives some perspective.
On the other hand, if you don’t care about money and a luxurious life, then you could go with the startups. Although it also adds up to the stress due to job security etc.
Also, there is no way a startup will be able to offer similar benefits as FAANG. And I’m not talking about free food or 401k matching. I’m talking about unusual stuff. Like google continues to pay half of the salary to the spouse if the employee passes away etc.
But it's enough to get interview and offer from perception team in self-driving area.
Main concern is that I really want to move my career in that direction, but compensation is much better at FANG.
Also depends on what the offer is. Just a difference of 100k means nothing.
What if one is offering 0 and the other 100k? On the other extreme one is offering 900k and other 1mil, then the difference is minuscule
I know aurora has very talented engineers.
Some startups in this space are amazing. Others not so much.
Regardless, the space is fun and extremely challenging. If you like the space and want to see the space up close, doesn't hurt choosing the startup (provided the team is amazing) and then jump back once you lose confidence in the space