[bearjaws]

I worry that even Small Co is too big for you to really play a large part in a new feature, especially depending when you are joining this project and team structure. You easily risk all of the overhead and politics of an Amazon, but for less pay.

The question you need to ask yourself, do you want to be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in the ocean? Next, see where you want to go 3 years from now, do you want to move from Individual Contributor to Leadership? Small Co will be better as you are more likely to stand out, can have direct communication about your goals, and work with your boss to align your goals to your work. If you want to get more technical, you could drive an architecture path in Small Co.

If I was in my early 20s I would certainly go for more money, but after making a couple hundred thousand dollars at 25 I was purely gunning for projects I was interested in.

The money became really unfulfilling to my mental health, and after 150k it really doesn't matter until you make the jump to 250k+.