The optionality is quite nice though if you can still get a long vesting grant.
Think about it - if you join Meta today, get a four year grant at say, 125k a year for four years... if it pops 20% by next year, that's "free money". If it doesn't, well, you can probably still go on the open market and get a competing offer.
I've made about 125k per year OVER my target comp working at FAANG in some good years.
And I lost money because AMZN did horribly between my offer letter and each vesting period between 2020-2023.
No I was no more going to keep 25% of my compensation in AMZN after it vested than I would now take the same amount of cash compensation I get now - ie my cash compensation now is the same as cash + RSU I was getting at Amazon.
I talk to my former coworkers at Amazon, they now have a choice between fewer RSUs and more cash. They always choose more cash.
Ok, let's say you were making the standard amazon 160k salary and you got another 100k a year in stock or something.
If by year two, you saw that for the next three years you were getting 75k in stock, you could have (in theory) gone to GCP and snagged an offer for ~160k+100k (your original 'market value').
I mean, obviously it's not quite that simple and we've both been through FAANG interviews and they move slow and all that, but I'm just saying, in theory if your stock value had dropped low enough, you could have started interviewing elsewhere, and if the reverse happens, it's all upside.
Just for context for those who don’t know. Amazon has a back heavy RSU vesting schedule 5/15/40/40 over 4 years did their initial offer with the last two years 20% every 6 months. The first two years are a pro rated signing bonus to make up for the lack of RSUs. Meaning your compensation will equal $250k if the stock stays flat.
But still - I much rather have the same amount guaranteed in cash especially since I think the outsized stock gain days for FAANG are over.
But you’re right, it’s a lot harder to go from one BigTech company than the other for most software developers (I think???).
Now to be completely transparent with a fact that wasn’t relevant at first but it is with that last statement I made, I have no idea how hard it is to get a software engineering position at Google after coming from Amazon. I do know it’s fairly strait forward to go from AWS ProServe to GCP’s equivalent from what I’ve seen. It’s almost an open door if you’re any good. I just don’t do BigTech or any in office job any more.
And less risk. I knew my equity in a public company was immediately liquid when it vested and I sold it all and diversified as soon as it did.
Now that I make the same amount in cash as I did in cash + RSUs at BigTech, it’s not like I’m going to take 25% of my compensation and put it one stock.
