Work has been really stressful lately and I can't make up my mind if I should quit.
I've been working for a small startup (12 people) for eight months. The reasons that I moved here were to support a career change from a related field (software testing/tools development) to software development, which was a long time ambition. Lately, things have started to suck and I'm debating whether to move.
My pay is low compared to my peers. I figure that I can get a $60K - $90K raise by moving to a bigger company in the form of salary, stock etc. I don't think I am being compensated adequately for the risk I am taking, in the form of stock options (0.17% of a 12 person company with 7 million in funding).
The work is really stressful with daily deadlines and the CEO is a HUGE micromanager. He has let four people go since I've been here and they were all good people who were let go for having a difference of opinion with him. They were all let go without notice by locking their email accounts and escorting them out of the building. CEO lies constantly about everything and makes up fake deadlines (customer demos etc) in order to increase productivity and create a sense of urgency.
1/4th of my stock options vest in one year. Are they worth anything? I did the math and even assuming no dilution and a hypothetical sale price of $200 million for the startup, total number works out to $345K. Of course, with dilution and stock preferance, it will be way less than that. Am I missing something?
When I joined, I stupidly accepted $5K in salary in the form of a signing bonus. This will have to be repaid if I leave before one year.
I also have an extended vacation planned next year near my one year anniversary with the company (one month) which I really don't want to miss.
Should I quit? Now or next year after my one year cliff? Because of the high stress nature of the job, I feel like I would have to quit before getting another offer in order to get time off for interviewing. Getting another job should not be a problem in this economy and I have about two years of expenses saved up in cash with no debt.