Author Topic: Tech Industry Equity Compensation  (Read 2444 times)

Lifestyle Deflation

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Tech Industry Equity Compensation
« on: March 11, 2015, 12:31:40 AM »
Would like some feedback/real world tales about this. Basically, the "standard" career in tech is jumping from company to company every 2-5 years for immense equity sign-on bonuses and salary bumps.

I've done one of these jumps so far, to lucrative results, but what should I be demanding for the next jump? These boosts are huge FIRE components so I'd like to know what others are seeing to start from a good negotiating position.

dunhamjr

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Re: Tech Industry Equity Compensation
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2015, 09:39:20 AM »
I have not jumped much at all.

When I signed on to my current company I got 500 option shares, at the time the company was $7/share... when the company got bought by a larger one in early December the shares were worth $129/share.

Beyond that, I am a manager and for the past couple of years have been getting an RSU compensation, first with a 4 years total vest, now with a 3 year vesting schedule.  Each of these is adding $4-7k per RSU per year to income.

What you ask for on each jump really will depend on your level, worker bee versus a Director level or above will obviously have an impact.
Also.  Be sure to consider the whole package, because that signing bonus might turn out less shiny if the company isn't doing well overall.  For example great 401k match, and great/cheap benefits might outshine the signing bonus.

seattleite

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Re: Tech Industry Equity Compensation
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2015, 10:28:39 PM »
I'm not quite sure that jumping is much of a benefit. In fact, the experience of me and my friends is that the people who have changed jobs every few years are stuck at the "career position" (whatever the lowest level where you are "safe" and don't need to advance on a certain schedule in order to keep your job), while the people who have stuck around in the company have advanced to (what I consider) crazy high levels making crazy amounts of money.

Of course, not everyone in a company can be a Senior Principal Engineer or Director, but what I've seen is that people get to those positions because they know that part of the organization better than anyone else.

The Calculus

Which of these is a bigger asset for you:

 a.) Other's perception of your skills and your interviewing style

or

 b.) Your ability to get stuff done

For the longest time I felt like I was a much better engineer than my interviewing skills or resume gave me credit for, so I stuck around in the same job (and I was rewarded for it). But now my resume is pretty awesome and I feel like it makes me look better than I really am, so if I cared about making more money (which I don't) it would make sense for me to change companies.



Livewell

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Re: Tech Industry Equity Compensation
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2015, 11:13:03 PM »
Been in Silicon Valley 20 years.  I've seen many go for equity and for vast majority it ends up being a small or no portion of overall pay.

My recommendation would be to work for good people, focus more on pay that you can directly influence (for me, commission but could be higher OTE or bonuses), if you work for a public company get as many RSU as you can and most importantly do not worry about the corporate ladder.  In so many tech companies, management means you get a small bump in exchange for massive amounts of new bullshit and oh you still have to be an individual contributor too.   Best jobs are high skill individual contributor roles.