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I agree with you that it is absolutely fair to compare FAANG salaries and stock performance to that of fast-growing startups because they are the primary avenues for smart people trying to make money in this industry. But the latter clearly are in the losing position insofar as the risk (and therefore, commensurate reward) is concerned. In terms of risk, they are completely different animals. FAANG are included in the S&P 500 index, which automatically triggers investments from many funds that have rules about this sort of thing. Many high-growth startups do not have that going for them. Further, they often fail to sustain their meteoric growth for sustained, long periods, adding further imponderables to the mix. Having been at many such companies myself, and having friends in FAANG for roughly the same period, I find that on the whole, they are doing much better money-wise, and surprisingly, in terms of career development. In terms of salary compensation, again, growing small-mid size companies again fall short in comparison to the FAANGs. The reason is that FAANGs have good structures set for performance management, career paths, and compensation increases. The former, in contrast, are almost always lacking in having good structure in these areas. So for the average engineer who's mulling a choice between the two, the risk/reward ratio tilts towards the FAANGs. Note that I'm mostly talking about money, and to a much smaller extent, about average career growth here. There are still plenty of other good reasons to work at small-mid size companies, but in terms of money, it is difficult to argue that going to the FAANGs leaves you worse off than the alternative. |