Comment by motionlessveloc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by motionlessveloc | Hacker News Reader

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motionlessveloc

I'm a "career person" and expect to retire soon in my late forties. The blog's advice is generally on point, but IMHO places too much emphasis on busting ass to play the career game. There are easier ways to win, and here's my secret sauce:

* Get a job at a successful listed tech company (not a startup) that issues RSUs.

* Get promoted to senior level but no higher (too much responsibility, poor work life balance, exposure to office politics)

* Move to a low tax jurisdiction like Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore, at least long enough to build a serious nest egg (several million).

* Live significantly below your means: I aimed to save & invest half my income. You'll still live a good life because these countries have vast income inequality and services are cheap.

* Find a partner who shares your values.

Not saying this is easy or even possible for many, but it worked for me.

The important parts are to find good management that will help you grow early in your career and will ensure you are well compensated. Prioritize hitting investment amounts that really allows for wealth growth (a few hundred thousand).

I think startup or smaller growth companies are better for this (but I'm biased since that was my path), as you can get more responsibility and rise through the ranks quickly to that critical senior or staff level where you start getting the real RSUs even if it means moving to a different company.

Startups are a gamble and nearly always you lose compared to working at a FAANG or equivalent. My first job was at one, and while the experience was invaluable, financially it was terrible because my options got diluted to basically nothing by the time they sold.

I probably should have specified later stage startup. Somewhere where people still need to wear many hats, but the profitability and growth questions are answered.

I've never worked for a FAANG and don't intend on it, but are there realistic pathways to getting promoted into the more senior engineering roles within a few years and getting decent RSUs each year? At least from my experience from working for a Fortune 500 company, they path to getting RSUs and the title are not that quick.

RSUs are a part of the comp package for everybody in a FAANG, although the number you get rises steeply as you climb the ladder. Promotion pathways are also well defined, so if you're competent and on the right teams, new grad to senior is possible in five years.

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