It sounds like the current place is a dead end long term as most acquired companies are, but the new place (being already public) to me also means that if their valuation is insane now like most other companies, may have limited upside as well and may collapse faster.
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I did regret going to some startup due to mostly greed, but in the IPO game, luck plays a bigger role than most regular jobs.[/quote]
That’s actually an excellent point. I do feel the new company is “richly valued” mainly because they are a young publicly traded company. And I’m not counting on my equity to hold value, as much as I’m sure we’d like it to. Not because I don’t believe in the company.It’s just the stock market is so unpredictable.
But the rub is that our acquirer is basically a private equity/leveraged buyout shop masqueraded as an engineering company. So while that’s great for shareholders, it’s a terrible proposition for engineers who want to spend time on R&D. So I even if those stock grants are worth something, chances are as technical person, you won’t be around to vest. So not that there was much stability to begin with at my current company, there definitely isn’t any going into this acquisition. And I don’t mind instability, provided there was some benefit from taking that risk.
But it just seems like if I view my employment prospects at my old company, in business terms, it’s a crappy deal…. We’re taking all the risk and uncertainty, and there isn’t really much of a beneficial reward for us, beyond the initial stock bump that has already been factored into the current stock price. It’s a high risk, low return investment imho to stay.
There is risk in going to a smaller company and it can go down or get acquired, but at least with that risk, there’s the potential for growth. But I think there are things I can do to hedge against that on the open markets. What do you guys think about this strategy?
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Another thing, I noticed at the company I worked at and left, some of the people who were still there will their management help are now all VPs, Directors, CIOs, etc…so staying also opens up a lot of promotions and opportunities as well since “someone” still has to man the place. If you’re connected in your current place, that someone could be you and that could lead to higher positions in the future as well.
The KEY thing I think to getting ahead is it’s critical who your manager is or who you think will HELP you get further and higher in your career (remember, the networking part)….
Your CURRENT manager is under the same gun as you at your current place so he or she is probably looking as well…If you’re close, you can ask what they plan to do. Downside of course is San Diego is so small probably for tech vs. the bay area.
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I didn’t think about that too. If that’s the case, then that’s even more of a reason to leave. Everyone of the colleagues that were either directly or indirectly responsible of where I am at in my old company has left already, or in the process of leaving. I’ve probably overstayed an extra 2 years trying to rebuild teams and projects. I generally get along with everyone, including senior management… I think the only ones I bump heads with sometimes are some of the bean counting PM’s.
