My situation: I'm 40yo, married, wife is pregnant (planned), my mortgage monthly payments are 5% of my raw salary and no other debt, I have 6 months of expenses saved and I'm totally unsatisfied with my current job because I feel I'm not a cultural fit anymore and I've outgrown my current position (without any opportunity or new projects to work on), the company had layoffs and is expected to keep firing people, just not at once anymore to avoid making morale even worse, I'm told.
I understand the job market is tough right now and I did get fewer offers than last time I looked for a job but it was still relatively easy to get to final interviews.
Job Offer #1: 10% salary increase, mid-sized financially healthy company that's growing organically and is expanding. CTO was interested in leadership skills so there's an opportunity to grow in that direction. All interviewers were extremely pleasant, especially the CTO. Organization is relatively flat for a company of that size. Mix of legacy systems and more modern tech stacks (I'm told migrations are almost done).
Job Offer #2: 20% salary increase, startup with 50 people total, it's VC-funded and wants to take over the world, it's growing a lot and has nice services. No legacy stuff, very modern stack. No talks about leadership positions but something might open up due to growth. Interviewers were friendly and very opinionated about tech stack (feedback was a bit more rough about the solutions I proposed, they said it wasn't wrong but they wanted something else for reasons).
Both positions are remote.
What are your thoughts? Please ask any clarifying questions (that won't dox me here)
But older, more established, companies typically provide better work/life balance and the additional 10% in salary won't pay for the time you lose with your new family.
I lucked out when my first child was born. I got laid off a week before. I say "lucked out" because our insurance benefits went on, cost free for three months and my spouse spent a month in the hospital after the birth. This was before paternity leave was a thing, and had I been working, I would have been very nervous taking a month off to care for her (or really, caring for our child so my spouse could focus on getting better.)
I did find a job before we lost our insurance benefits, but it paid a bit less but was MUCH less stressful and with a MUCH better work/life balance.
Based on the information provided, both job offers have their pros and cons. Here are some things to consider:
Job Offer #1:
Pros:
- 10% salary increase
- Mid-sized financially healthy company that is growing organically
- Opportunity to grow in leadership direction
- Relatively pleasant interviewers, especially the CTO
- Mix of legacy systems and modern tech stacks (migrations are almost done)
- Organization is relatively flat for a company of that size
- No mention of the company's long-term vision or strategy
Pros:
- 20% salary increase
- Growing startup with VC funding and a modern tech stack
- No legacy systems
- Friendly interviewers with a strong opinion about tech stack
- No mention of leadership opportunities, although they may arise due to growth
- No information provided about the company's long-term vision or strategy beyond "taking over the world"
1. What are the long-term growth opportunities at each company?
2. What is the company culture like?
3. What is the work-life balance like at each company?
4. What are the benefits packages like at each company?
5. How stable is each company in terms of funding and growth prospects?