[jsnell]

Useful context: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36408700

Quite odd that the last time around he complained about only getting a promo out of it, and this time it is about not getting one. Are we supposed to believe that he was promised a promo skipping past levels for delivering this? Who would even had the power to credibly promise that at a company like MS? Certainly not his VP, if the first story is to be believed.

[holtkam2]

Yeah. I think I have a tough time feeling bad for him because it's sort of the bargain you have accept working for big tech... in the low chance that you build a world-changing product, you're going to benefit very minimally relative to the value you unlock. In exchange you get some degree of insulation from product failures.

Contrast that to if the guy had created a startup which made Copilot... he would have had the ability to benefit much more, but would have been exposed to more risk if it failed.

If you're dealing in expected-value terms, it's almost always the right move to just work for someone else.