Help evaluate risk vs reward (Apple vs Startup)
Hey all,
Currently am an ICT3 PD (Product Design Engineer) at Apple with 4YOE. TC is ~225 (150 base/75 RSU annually currently), and I'm evaluating an offer from a Series D robotics/hardware startup.
They're offering ~275TC (185 base/90 in *options* annually). Now the base increase is great, and on paper the options are very valuable, but I'm hesitant after doing a lot of research on likelihood of an exit/IPO failures/etc. that it could effectively pan out to $0.
I'm only 26 currently, and have many more years of learning to do in my career. I'm conflicted if I should stick to my stable job with guaranteed money in the long term (currently have ~300k unvested RSU, and pool will grow bigger every year as bonuses have been around 100k RSU/4Y annually). Or should I embrace the risk, jump to a startup with the chance to grow in leadership opportunities and build new skills, and rest easy thinking that I can always return to FAANG (or similar) later in my career for stability?
Curious to hear what everyone's thoughts are.
#apple #startup #hardware #options
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