
New employer (unicorn) offering huge raise. Current employer (startup) countered - timeforchange
I&#x27;m stuck in a bit of a pickle. I&#x27;ve been with this startup since near day one. Lately, I&#x27;ve been a bit discouraged by our heads down focus on growth and lack of attention devoted to innovation. We&#x27;ve lost much of our top engineering and design talent, and are nearing a skeleton crew. Leadership has been a revolving door since the inception of the company and has more experience in marketing, not heading technologies companies. With that said, I do very much enjoy my coworkers.<p>To break things down in numbers– new employer is offering me a 60% raise in terms of cash &amp; 80% including equity (I am nearly vested at current employer). Current employer just barely surpassed the offer at new employer, but will offer other concessions (allow me to move and work remote 3 days&#x2F;week, hiring of staff engineers, etc).<p>I am looking forward to a fresh start in terms of company (no baggage) and location. I will be learning a new tech stack (some of it awesome, some of it very legacy) as well as have exposure to a much bigger pool of engineers and diversity of skills, experiences &amp; opinions.<p>Any advice? My intuition is telling me too little, too late &amp; to move on.
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geophile
If you love technology, the new place offers it, and the old place doesn't,
then that alone is a good reason for moving. You aren't causing your vested
options to lose value by moving since your current employer sounds like it
values marketing and sales more than technology. The only thing keeping you
are 1) inertia and 2) the move and remote work. (The hiring probably doesn't
compare to the much bigger pool of engineers at the new place.)

Unless the move and remote work are incredibly important to you, it sounds
like an easy choice.

(One thing you haven't mentioned is big company vs. startup. Think about that
too.)

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timeforchange
This is what I needed to hear. Thank you for helping to bring me some clarity.

So, the big company vs. startup discussion gets even more interesting. I was
hired at big company onto small team to work mainly on greenfield projects.
Almost like the best of both worlds.

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geophile
"Like a startup inside a big company" seems dubious. I have heard it so many
times through the years, and it just never pans out. It is basically a
euphemism for: you will start with a blank piece of paper and work very hard
in a small team. But you will still be subject to big company policies, and of
course you don't get anything like startup equity in case your project
succeeds in the marketplace. So not literally the best of both worlds.

I'm not saying not to join such a team -- just that you should go into it with
a clear picture. It sounds like this could well scratch your techie itch, and
seems better than your current position. However, if the chance of a big
payoff is important to you, I am dubious.

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sesteel
Ask yourself this question: If my current company gave me 50% ownership of the
company, would I want it, and if so, how much is it worth? Without knowing all
the details it is hard to say, but working in a larger organization with more
engineers to help get you going is a much better spot than trying to find good
engineers to join a struggling company and get them going.

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karlkfi
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2014/07/07/why-you-
sho...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2014/07/07/why-you-should-never-
accept-a-counter-offer-when-you-resign/)

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timeforchange
I came across this earlier, but somehow got adblock-blocked, despite the fact
my adblock was disabled. It was well worth opening up a different browser–
thanks

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forgottenacc57
Sell out. To the highest bidder. Set aside your hopes and dreams. Do it fast.

The rest of your life will follow a similar pattern, many small easy
compromises until you find you've completely lost sight of what you really
valued. May as well start that process now.

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timeforchange
So angsty

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forgottenacc57
You'll know what I mean in 20 years.

