Changed job from FAANG to startup, was it the right move ?

I hated Amazon, my manager was horrible, I was working on a useless product, my mental health was at its lowest, and had to go to the office. I quit and joined a startup. At first, I liked it a lot, my manager is amazing. I feel like I make decisions that matter, I work on a product I am interested in, I work less, fully remote staying home with my spouse and pets. Pay is higher in base salary, but my equity is not sellable yet (company is private). What’s wrong you ask? I absolutely don’t want to go back to Amazon but I’m wondering whether to recruit again. My friends are all working in Big Tech and I’m there working for a company no one heard about, the benefits are not great either. Now that I have everything I wished for (nice manager, remote job), I find myself wanting to work for a big company for the prestige and benefits (especially paternity leave). I didn’t expect myself to care about that and I know the perfect job does not exist, but everyday I feel like I am missing out and I can aim higher. I don’t have any visa restrictions. Previous TC: 240k incl. stock New TC: 200k cash (+ equity $220k over 4 years but can’t sell it until event)

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47 Participants
Select only one answer
Microsoft libijszn 3d

It’s not FAANG vs startup. It sounds more like Amazon vs anything else.

ByteDance Neehaw 2d

Benefits matter especially around life events, don’t forget Amazon doesn’t cover paternity leave unless you’ve been there 12 months

New
urayuiok 2d

Get higher title in startup then get better level in FANG than your previous job