Imagine one environment where work is not challenging, has good wlb, gives out high TC. Another environment where work is challenging, has poor wlb, gives out low TC (because 70%+ is paper money whereas base is comparable) Imagine the latter environment with lots of smart people. Where would you want to work? Suppose tc diff is 2.5-3.5x (If startup is 180k, this cushy job is like 500k) #google #meta #nvidia #amazon #microsoft #apple #uber #adobe #airbnb
Itās always high TCā¦.then as another post mentionedā¦then get outā¦.
Depends on what stage of your life. It's not a binary answer.
Use the extra time to learn
This is unrealistic. The 3 factors here are challenging work, WLB, and TC. No company has all 3, you have to pick 2, or in some cases, 1. Ex) State Farm, great WLB, but okay TC for LCOL/MCOL and work isnāt challenging at all
If you want to be a long term software developer, and someday start your own or take new skills to join med-big tech at a higher level, I would choose the startup to learn more and build stronger foundations for the future. If youāre young you donāt need the big bucks right away. You can afford the delay gratification. Because you never know, your skills might be meant for something more than big tech especially with VC funding on the rise for new technology. Startups to buyout or IPO might be back in tech.
If the startup is OpenAI then just go there.
TC is all that matters. Fuck learning. It's an excuse to pay you less.
You can learn on your own tbh. You should consider though the startup is an environment with ambitious people and possibly connected, whereas a cozy corporate job has less ambitious people.
Before my mortgage I would have said B. Now it's A.
Collect that TC and then eventually start your own startup rather rub your a** for somebody else
Looks like a lot of people think the opposite too
Early in the career that would be a good option but at later stage, you are trading your skills and good life for someone elseās dream for a very poor pay! SO A BiG NO!