Every startup under the sun is hiring decent software engineers. If you cannot find a job right now as a software engineer with experience, that's on you
I (50 Something AI Specialist) interviewed with 2 startups recently.. both passed -one said I was too qualified.. the other that I was too CTO type.. basically 20 somethings wanted other fellow 20 somethings -despite my AI experience.
I'm working with 3 other startups, but work is contract based, no healthcare and flaky..
Maybe you came off as too far above the grind? People that have recently been in more VPE/director type roles often don’t succeed at returning to IC work (or at least, hiring managers believe this).
Probably if you have their exact experience requirements and willing to go to an office in San Francisco. Then you need to do the leet code thing and if your lucky get picked from the final candidates and get a low ball offer.
They've been all the best ones, in my career; and I have no idea what you mean by "low pay", unless it's merely "not the very tippy-top highest pay". Which is fine: there's more to life than just money.
Startup's have famously traded pay for the "carrot" of outsized returns on equity. The pay always sucks.
Most people do not want to work for subpar pay in the one of the most expensive areas in the US. Especially when you're getting diluted off of the cap table as happens now. You're always ending up behind.
That's before considering people with actual life responsibilities.
This comment seems like 15 years outdated to me. I'm curious what you think "normal" pay and "startup" pay are. Or maybe how early you're drawing the line for defining "startup".
Being in the first handful of non-founder startup employees at some seed stage company is probably not the most lucrative thing, but once companies are post Series A, as far as I can tell they tend to be comp competitive with bigger companies.
Obviously not many companies can compete with Meta or Jane Street for salaries, but that's true whether you're talking about a startup or the majority of the S&P 500 companies.
First the thing I liked had changed, then they took it away and it wasn't even mine anymore... or however the meme went. Enjoy maybe three remaining years of your career :)
I'm working with 3 other startups, but work is contract based, no healthcare and flaky..