How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer

Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by eweise on Thursday November 02, 2023 @03:51PM (#38119064)

Been working at startups on and off for over 20 years. In total I've spent more money on stock options than I've made from them.

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by latchkey on Thursday November 02, 2023 @04:39PM (#38119819)

Nailed it.

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by saliagato on Thursday November 02, 2023 @04:58PM (#38120056)

Care to elaborate?

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by nick222226 on Thursday November 02, 2023 @08:15PM (#38122403)

Pay to exercise options and pay for imputed taxes. In a year or two company folds and you get nothing.

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by eweise on Thursday November 02, 2023 @11:57PM (#38124323)

Yep this ^^^

If they only give you 90 days to buy your options when you leave the company, don't bother working there. Its a scam.

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by coffeebeqn on Thursday November 02, 2023 @08:38PM (#38122670)

I’ve been at various startups for over 10 years. My stock options have a cumulative value of $0

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by xctr94 on Friday November 03, 2023 @06:02AM (#38126549)

I’m on the same boat, plus the startup I helped co-found later found a loophole to steal my 20% of equity. Startups are a scam.

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by abrichr on Wednesday November 08, 2023 @08:58AM (#38190347)

Sorry to hear that. What was the loophole?

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Re:How to Not Get Screwed over as a Software Engineer by fatnoah on Friday November 03, 2023 @07:59AM (#38127416)

Same. My net is the -$200 I spent exercising options in my first startup.

I'm currently on my fourth because it's good experience and I needed a job after being laid off from a larger company. I'm a exec and have a decent amount of options and the company has customers and a path to profitability, but I'm still not counting on those options being worth anything.

Of my previous 3 startups. 2 were acquired and one is still chugging along and making a small profit with no exit plans. Total value of my stock was the aforementioned negative number.

Join startups for the experience, not for the paper money.

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