More money, or more interesting work/company name? Early career
I’m a mechanical engineer recently laid off from Tesla. I have the option to join a legacy automotive OEM in LA doing the exact same work I was doing at Tesla but with a large pay bump, or join SpaceX/another well known startup working on novel tech for less money but much more interesting industry. OEM pay and WLB will be better. But I am worried that long term it will hinder me from moving to higher paying roles in tech (google, apple, meta, etc) because of fords image as a slow outdated company versus SpaceX’s image of cutting edge technology. I am early in my career so I am willing to sacrifice a year or two of WLB to get ahead in my career, but I’m not sure if it really matters. The work is also not the most stimulating, it’s cool and challenging, but nothing compared to the idea of building rockets and satellites (could just be a grass is greener on the other side situation). How would you recommend I think about the situation? Tesla TC (laid off): 150 (130 base +20 stock) (Bay) OFFERS: OEM: 190 (145 base + 30stock + 15sign on) (LA) SpaceX: 140 (110 base + 30 stock) (LA/Seattle)
Ah yes. The classic dilemma. Higher pay or more interesting work. I used to work at ford, but it was my first job outta college. Paid $75k and was 5 days onsite in Dearborn. I got fired when I asked for a raise and then got a new job making $100k full remote at Sunnova— which was an interesting business too. So I got lucky in this dilemma. They’re paying a lot more for you though, so… idk
few things: SpaceX is pretty generous with bonuses and refreshers if you’re outperforming. Depends on the org but if you sell yourself well, you can definitely get a big bump in bonus (I average around 0.8-1x my base salary per year as a bonus, vesting over 5yrs as an ME, not including the standard vesting from initial stock award). Second, you should know that you can counteroffer. I knew from peers internally when getting offers that base salary is pretty non-negotiable, but stock offer isn’t. Lastly, if you’re in it for stock, who are you gonna go with? A company that historically went 1.5x in 5yrs, or one that is over >5x? I’m taking the FIRE route, but everyone has their priorities in life.
Outperforming is not easy. How do you do it? How to be successful there ?
OEM, pay yourself first. I’ve regretted higher pay only 1 of 3 times I hopped for higher pay. There’s good and bad in every job. The benefit for you amongst these is they’ll both be brand name companies so no loss compared to being hired by rinky dink startups. You didn’t mention layoff risk but I don’t know what’s the status of layoffs in spacex and OEMs right now.
Wow Ford pays that much? What’s your YOE? What’s their culture like? I personally voted for Ford, but that’s also because I think good WLB and having flexibility at work is more important than career growth. You already worked at Tesla and I bet you developed strong skill sets to be able to take it a bit slower.
Why go from one Elon company to another
Although it had its negatives (wlb, layoffs) it had its pros (cool work, learned a lot, passionate coworkers). It’s also been my only job so maybe it’s all I know but it felt like a college project almost, somewhat miserable but everyone is having a great time since we’re in it together. Not sure if anyone else feels this way
Didn’t know spacex pays so low. Elon is so frugal to his own employees