Any other engineers care to chime in about stock options? Is your company still granting them? Has the volume of options being granted changed? Have your co-worker's attitude about the company's compensation plan changed? (my co-workers are feeling pretty well f'd over these days – management is receiving stock and options as bonuses and the line-level troops are lucky to get a 3% raise each year) The original poster of this thread is saying that options being granted to engineers are a significant source of income here in San Diego – I don't see that and I'm curious if anyone else does

My company, a small office of a larger company based in the Valley still does. Actually it does both. stock option grants + stock units. You had to negotiate them as part of your offer. Too many engineers are still way too timid and worried about being outsourced for companies to proactively give you stuff. Companies aren't telling you,that some places there's a shortage of qualified people (though if you don't make the cut, it doesn't matter what you try to negotiate). The dot-bomb converted a lot of would-be geeks into MBA grads, so there's some shortage of qualified people here and there.