There is no such thing as job security - coming from someone who has been working for 30 years across 10 companies. That shouldn’t even be your goal.
Your goal should be “resilience” - being able to get a job quickly and having enough liquid assets to carry you through the gap.
Also keep your fixed expenses low.
That means an in demand non commodity skillset (no full stack developer isn’t it), a strong network, an always updated resume and longer form “career document” where you detail all your accomplishments in STAR format.
I would much rather get a job in BigTech (been there done that - don’t want to go back) and make $250k+ as a mid level developer even if I did get laid off than work in enterprise dev making $150k as a “senior” working at a bank.
Yes I realize that most of the 2.8 million developers in the US work in enterprise dev. So did I from 1996-2020.
And I know what the current job market looks like. I had to find a job - and did quickly - last year and the year before.
Generally, the more you get paid, the less stable it is. Big tech is probably still the most stable way to make that kind of income. What else can you do? Start a business? Rob a bank? Trade stocks? Freelance? Startups are always higher risk, higher returns.
But big tech has become extremely competitive, and high competition makes it more unstable.
I think job stability/security for the individual is highly dependent on the company rather than the size. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have had a history of laying off employees during downturns, while Apple has generally been better about avoiding this (this most recent economic downturn has been the first time Apple has done large layoffs in quite a long time IIRC).
Layoffs are always possible no matter the company, so it's good to be prepared financially for that, however, you can look at a company's history to determine how you should react when the economy starts going down.
For example, I grew up during the 2008 financial crisis. I frequently heard my friends' parents getting laid off from the big tech companies. Years later as I've reflected on this, I came to the realization that if I ever get into a big tech company like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google, that I either need to make it to a position where I'm confident I won't be axed, or get out before I do. And even if I'm confident that I won't get the boot, I should still plan for the possibility of that happening.
If you join a good startup that has an actual product and real exit plan, sure.
And by actual exit plan I mean an IPO, or a multi billion dollar acquisition if that doesn’t work out.
I worked at a unicorn once and it worked out well. Most of the employees who joined pre to just around unicorn status walked away with 8-25x or more return.
Equity is rarely ever worth it without at least a billion dollar exit. I'm not going to wait 4 years and take a $60k per year salary cut for a possibility of making $10k later on.
It is the hirer's job to sell this too. Engineers will always do the math and they'll do it conservatively.
The optionality is quite nice though if you can still get a long vesting grant.
Think about it - if you join Meta today, get a four year grant at say, 125k a year for four years... if it pops 20% by next year, that's "free money". If it doesn't, well, you can probably still go on the open market and get a competing offer.
I've made about 125k per year OVER my target comp working at FAANG in some good years.
There is no such thing as job security - coming from someone who has been working for 30 years across 10 companies. That shouldn’t even be your goal.
Your goal should be “resilience” - being able to get a job quickly and having enough liquid assets to carry you through the gap.
Also keep your fixed expenses low.
That means an in demand non commodity skillset (no full stack developer isn’t it), a strong network, an always updated resume and longer form “career document” where you detail all your accomplishments in STAR format.
I would much rather get a job in BigTech (been there done that - don’t want to go back) and make $250k+ as a mid level developer even if I did get laid off than work in enterprise dev making $150k as a “senior” working at a bank.
Yes I realize that most of the 2.8 million developers in the US work in enterprise dev. So did I from 1996-2020.
And I know what the current job market looks like. I had to find a job - and did quickly - last year and the year before.
Generally, the more you get paid, the less stable it is. Big tech is probably still the most stable way to make that kind of income. What else can you do? Start a business? Rob a bank? Trade stocks? Freelance? Startups are always higher risk, higher returns.
But big tech has become extremely competitive, and high competition makes it more unstable.
I think job stability/security for the individual is highly dependent on the company rather than the size. Microsoft, Amazon, and Google have had a history of laying off employees during downturns, while Apple has generally been better about avoiding this (this most recent economic downturn has been the first time Apple has done large layoffs in quite a long time IIRC).
Layoffs are always possible no matter the company, so it's good to be prepared financially for that, however, you can look at a company's history to determine how you should react when the economy starts going down.
For example, I grew up during the 2008 financial crisis. I frequently heard my friends' parents getting laid off from the big tech companies. Years later as I've reflected on this, I came to the realization that if I ever get into a big tech company like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google, that I either need to make it to a position where I'm confident I won't be axed, or get out before I do. And even if I'm confident that I won't get the boot, I should still plan for the possibility of that happening.
Working in big tech has taught me that layoffs are poorly directed at best and performance or value to the company rarely matter.
Smaller companies, sometimes they do, because the have to be more careful but by the time they turn to layoffs it's usually too late for them
If you join a good startup that has an actual product and real exit plan, sure.
And by actual exit plan I mean an IPO, or a multi billion dollar acquisition if that doesn’t work out.
I worked at a unicorn once and it worked out well. Most of the employees who joined pre to just around unicorn status walked away with 8-25x or more return.
Equity is rarely ever worth it without at least a billion dollar exit. I'm not going to wait 4 years and take a $60k per year salary cut for a possibility of making $10k later on.
It is the hirer's job to sell this too. Engineers will always do the math and they'll do it conservatively.
You go to big tech for double the salary (compared to startups), not stability.
Double the base salary true but lower overall payoff since Big Tech equity upside is already priced in.
The optionality is quite nice though if you can still get a long vesting grant.
Think about it - if you join Meta today, get a four year grant at say, 125k a year for four years... if it pops 20% by next year, that's "free money". If it doesn't, well, you can probably still go on the open market and get a competing offer.
I've made about 125k per year OVER my target comp working at FAANG in some good years.