I direct an engineering team for a large telecom company as well as perform real estate services. In the past few years the options have dried up mostly because of the new reporting guidelines for accounting. In years past yes many engineers did very well with stock options. Also many engineers in the field with over 8 years of experience have lots of stockpiled options however the net worth of those options may not be much if they were granted after 2000 unless they were reissued. Lots of employees at Broadcom had that happen.
What you said is pretty true 4plex. In fact at our company we do not have any annual merit increase anymore. We get a 6 month “bonus” now based on a formula that is tied into stock performance, production milestones, and design wins. In order to fund this “plan” we had no merit increase in the previous calendar year. The first payout last November was great, about 4% of our annual salary, the next payout this May will be less, about 3%. So in one year that is 7% which is great. Except we got no increase last year. The option grants have been meager at best. Also note, the base salary does NOT increase unless you get a promotion now.
