Why I Turned Down a Six-Figure Salary in Big Tech to Stay at a Five-Person Startup

Three months ago, I found myself at a pivotal crossroads in my career as a software engineer. After spending the last two years honing my skills at a small but ambitious startup, I unexpectedly received a compelling job offer from one of the biggest and most renowned tech companies in the world.

The role came with an impressive six-figure compensation package, stellar benefits, and the prestige of having a top tech company on my resume. It seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime and the logical next step for an ambitious software engineer.

And yet, after much deliberation, I made the unconventional decision to turn down the offer and stay at my current company – a scrappy five-person startup where I‘m the only full-time developer. Here‘s why I chose to go against the grain and follow my own path.

My Winding Road into Software Engineering

To understand my decision, let me first share a bit about my background. My road into software engineering has been a long and winding one. I don‘t have a traditional computer science degree – instead, I studied liberal arts in college and worked a series of odd jobs after graduation, from teaching English abroad to doing admin work at a law firm.

It wasn‘t until my late 20s that I discovered my passion for coding and decided to make a career change. I quit my job, enrolled in a coding bootcamp, and threw myself into learning web development. Those first few months were extremely challenging, but also exhilarating. I loved the problem-solving aspect of programming and the creative possibilities of building apps from scratch.

After finishing the bootcamp, I landed my first job as a junior full-stack developer at a digital agency. Over the next couple years, I continued to grow my skills in JavaScript, Node.js, React, and various backend technologies. I took on increasing responsibilities and worked my way up to a senior developer role.

But after a while, I started to feel restless. I wanted to work on more challenging problems and have a bigger impact with my work. That‘s when I decided to make the jump to an early-stage startup as the first engineering hire.

Joining a Startup as the First Developer

Coming from an agency background, I knew that working at a startup would be a very different beast. There would be more uncertainty but also more opportunities to shape the product and culture from the ground up. I was excited to trade the stability of an established company for the thrill of building something new.

When I joined the startup two years ago, I was blown away by how much responsibility I was given from day one. As the sole developer, I had an immense amount of ownership and autonomy over the tech stack and product direction. I worked closely with the founders to understand the user needs and business goals, then architected and built the web app from scratch.

It was exhilarating but also daunting. I had never taken on such a huge scope of work before, and imposter syndrome hit me hard in those early days. There were so many new technologies to learn and so many decisions to make without much guidance. But I found that I thrived under the pressure. I learned more in those first few months than I had in years before, simply because there was no other choice.

Over time, I grew into my role as the technical leader and started to make key hiring and architecture decisions. I brought on another developer to help scale the team, and together we tackled even more ambitious projects, from rebuilding the front-end in React to implementing complex machine learning models.

Getting the Unexpected Job Offer

Fast forward two years, and I was loving my work and the tight-knit team I had helped build. We had found product-market fit, raised a successful funding round, and were scaling quickly. I was constantly challenged and learning, with a strong sense of purpose and impact.

So when a recruiter from a big tech company reached out about an opportunity, I wasn‘t actively looking to leave. But the role sounded intriguing – leading the front-end for a new product initiative – and I decided to hear more.

In the first phone call, the recruiter shared the jaw-dropping compensation details. The base salary was $180,000, over 50% more than my current pay. On top of that, there was a generous equity package, sign-on bonus, and top-of-the-line benefits. It was by far the most money I had ever been offered.

I would be joining a team of experienced engineers, many of whom had worked at top companies like Google and Facebook. The company had billions in revenue and massive scale, with the resources to tackle the most ambitious engineering challenges. There was no question it would be an incredible opportunity for growth and learning.

And yet, as I began the interview process and learned more about the role, I couldn‘t shake a nagging sense of doubt. On paper, it was the logical next step for my career. But something didn‘t feel quite right.

Weighing the Trade-offs

Over the next few weeks, I dove deep into researching the company and role, while doing a lot of self-reflection about my personal priorities and goals. I made lists of pros and cons, had many conversations with trusted mentors, and even spoke with engineers at the company to get a better sense of the day-to-day work.

One of the biggest things that gave me pause was the sheer size and complexity of the organization. With tens of thousands of engineers and many layers of management, I worried that my individual impact would be limited. The projects sounded interesting but also quite narrow in scope. I imagined there would be a lot more process and bureaucracy to navigate compared to the agile, scrappy environment of a startup.

There were also personal factors to consider. The big tech company was located in a different city, which would require a major move and significant change in cost of living. I had a great community and support system where I currently lived, with many close friends at the startup. Was it worth uprooting my life for a job?

But perhaps the biggest consideration was one of values and purpose. I deeply believed in the mission of my startup and felt a strong sense of ownership over the product. We were tackling an important societal problem and I could see the tangible impact of my work every day. I wasn‘t sure if I would find the same fulfillment working on a small part of a massive product at a huge corporation, even if the technical challenges were exciting.

As an engineer, it‘s easy to get caught up in chasing the highest salary or the biggest brand name. But over many reflective walks and journal entries, I realized that optimizing for learning and impact was more important to me at this stage in my career. I didn‘t just want to be a cog in a machine – I wanted to build something meaningful and grow into a strong technical leader.

The Data on Startups vs Big Tech

To be sure, there are very compelling reasons to join a big tech company as a software engineer. The compensation is unmatched, with the average developer earning $150-200K in salary and equity (source). The engineering challenges are massive in scale and complexity. And there‘s no question that having a FAANG company on your resume can open many doors.

But job satisfaction isn‘t just about money or prestige. In a 2017 survey of over 5,000 developers, the top 3 priorities for job seekers were opportunities for professional development, work/life balance, and company culture/values. Salary was important but ranked 5th overall.

Another study by Dice found that the biggest predictors of engineer job satisfaction were the quality of relationships with colleagues, the level of personal agency and ownership, and seeing the impact of your work on end users. All of these factors tend to be higher at startups than large corporations.

Of course, startups come with higher risks. 20% of new businesses fail in their first year and 50% fail by year 5 (source). Even well-funded startups with traction can run out of money or get acqui-hired. There‘s always the chance of being laid off or the company going under.

But risk is a fundamental part of career growth. Joining an early-stage startup gives you the opportunity to build something new, wear many hats, and stretch yourself beyond your existing skills. You get exposure to not just coding but also product, design, and business decisions. The learnings can be immense, and the potential for impact is much higher than at a mature company where you‘re a small part of a big machine.

Betting on Myself and My Own Growth

Ultimately, I realized that an early-stage startup was the ideal environment for me to grow into the kind of engineer and leader I wanted to become. I was already getting to work on hard technical problems, like scaling our data processing pipeline and building out new product features. But I was also learning the softer skills of leadership, like how to set a technical vision, collaborate with stakeholders, and manage a team.

The breadth of exposure was unmatched and I knew these skills would serve me well regardless of where my career took me. In my conversations with engineers who went from startups to big tech, many shared that their biggest advantage was the full-stack, end-to-end perspective they had gained from building products holistically.

Ilya Sukhar, the founder of Parse which was acquired by Facebook, puts it well:

"Startups are the best place to learn how to build things. Not to learn the latest hipster framework or programming language. But to learn how to take an idea and turn it into a living, breathing product. How to make dozens of decisions every single day, agonize over the right UX, and take feedback from customers. Working at a startup is one of the best career moves you can make, especially early in your career."

With the level of ownership and leadership I had at my startup, I was confident I still had a lot of room for growth. I spoke with my manager about my goals and we came up with an ambitious plan for me to level up to a staff engineer within the year, with a corresponding jump in pay. I would take on more mentorship of junior developers, contribute to key architecture decisions, and even get involved in the hiring process.

But even more importantly, I would be honing the skills and mindsets to succeed in any environment. Like how to break down complex problems, prioritize ruthlessly, and collaborate cross-functionally to get things done. How to balance technical excellence with pragmatic business needs. And how to lead not just through authority but through influence and relationships.

Closing Thoughts

In the end, I turned down the big tech offer and recommitted to my startup journey. It wasn‘t an easy choice. I wrestled with FOMO and the allure of a big brand and paycheck. I questioned whether I was making the safe choice by staying.

But as I reflected more, I realized that for me, the "safe" choice was the one that challenged me to keep growing and making an impact. It was betting on myself and the experiences that would shape me into the best version of an engineer and leader. And it was staying true to my values and the type of work that fulfilled me.

In the past three months since I made my decision, I‘ve taken on bigger projects and more responsibility than ever. I led the technical architecture for a major new product initiative, hired and mentored two new engineers, and even collaborated with the CEO on company strategy. I‘m continuing to grow rapidly and loving the challenge.

No one can predict the future and of course there are always risks to staying at a startup. But I‘m at peace with my choice and playing the long game. Even if things were to change tomorrow, I know I‘m gaining the skills and experiences that will set me up for success in any environment.

And while I‘m genuinely happy for my colleagues who have "graduated" to big tech, I‘ve realized status and brand name are less important to me than impact and growth. I‘m not building my resume, I‘m building myself. And I‘m excited to see where the startup journey takes me.

To anyone else weighing a similar decision, my advice is to get crystal clear on what you value and the experiences that will help you grow. Don‘t just chase money or external validation. Dig deep to understand what motivates you and the kind of work that energizes you. And have the courage to optimize for your own path, even if it‘s not conventional.

As the author Tim Urban writes, "Your life is a firefly blink in the context of the universe. If there‘s a way to do what makes you happiest and most fulfilled, do that thing."

I may have turned down a big pay bump for now. But I‘m betting that the learnings and growth I‘ll gain on this unconventional path will pay dividends for years to come, in more ways than one. As long as I keep stretching myself and doing work that matters to me, I know I can‘t go wrong.