Salary should not be conflated with total comp. Picking the "hyperscale ultra-growth" startup is like winning the lottery, or investing in a donut shop that strikes oil. Working there comes with an implicit investment, survivorship bias makes this seem more consistent than this actually is. It's a mixture of software engineering and entrepreneurship, the two should be separated to properly evaluate the risk.
Seems pretty well known at this point that risk-adjusted comp is higher at bigger stable co's. Personally find them boring, so I tend to work at startup/growth companies, where I can make enough for the lifestyle I like, and I enjoy my work.
