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Im a Jr engineer at a company. I got stock options for joining up, was it a good move to take these or should I have passed and asked for a higher salary?
Stock options are a lottery ticket. If you have the option to negotiate a higher salary in lieu of options I say take it, but often startups won't do that because they have lots of options to give out and not a lot of cash.
Stock Options can be good if you stay with the company long enough for them to pay out, i.e. company is successful and goes public. Still, I don't think it would be good form to ask for higher salary in lieu of stock options. For one, the budget handles stock options and actual salary differently. Secondly, refusing stock options to ask for more money can send the message that you don't believe in the company's future, or that you don't expect to stay long term.
Also the amount of options you get, strike price, and vesting qualifications (ex: 4 years, liquidity event, etc) all play a role. TBH at a jr eng role, the pay off may be at best a car or a nice vacation. Oh, and tax implications too. Being a family person, I'd much rather take the cash over options.
Depends on your circumstances. I'd not reduce cash compensation to below what I need for day-to-day expenses plus basic savings. after that, I am willing to trade off cash for stock options; companies generally have more leeway in granting more options than what they have with cash - especially early stage.
more stock only if you believe in the company and don't need money right away. always take close look at when you have to exercise options (within 1 year of vesting, open ended if you are currently working there, when do they expire if you leave as well). then you have to find out funding info on multipliers for investors. this shit is complicated.
options are a lottery ticket with better odds. if you need to cash ask for it but if you are ready to gamble take the ticket. if you are young out of school you should take the ticket. if you have a house, kids, etc well take a smaller ticket for better pay.
For startups, I recommmend thinking of stock options as icing on the cake. There's no guarantee it'll pay off in the end.
...but icing always pays off in the end?
Lol.