How to choose your next job
Before reading the rest of this, put yourself into the shoes of a Stanford senior graduating with a CS degree, and pick one of these (real) job offers:
- MegaTech Public – $115K base, $25K signing, 10% annual bonus, $200K RSUs vesting over 4 years, lots of perks and benefits
- UnicornTech Private - $105K base, $10K signing, no annual bonus, options for 0.01% of the company vesting over 4 years, lots of perks
- NextBigThing Private - $89K base, $3K signing, no annual bonus, options for 0.5% of the company vesting over 4 years, limited benefits
- TooBigToFail JumboBank - $85K base, $5K signing, $60K annual bonus (growing $20K per year), no equity, generous benefits
The fun part of this poll is it’s part of a class at Stanford called CS 007 (Personal Finance for Engineers), and the “answers” are posted online.
While most students think working at a bank will maximize their comp over the next five years, most of them (52%) want to join a startup. Here’s why:
- Long-term value – people want the potential for growth and learning; also equity is seen as the largest driver of long-term earnings
- Company success - working at a successful startup can enhance future career prospects
- Quality of team, people, and network - working with great people is a major source of job satisfaction and can lead to future opportunities
- Risk tolerance - some people prefer the potential for exceptional outcomes vs. guaranteed results
If you want to see more content on personal finance and how to make big financial decisions, check out the course blog. It’s a great resource!