Treat options as wastepaper. They're lottery tickets. If they are worth something someday, then great, good job.
But you can pour yourself into a company heart and soul, one with options and one without, with exactly the same outcome: Zero. And to a large degree the outcome is not only not under your control, it is often under the control of predatory entities who do not want you to realize any return.
As an employee, get a competitive salary because the chances verge on certainty that those options will be worth zero, no matter how hard you work and no matter how much you think your contributions will move the needle.
The equation is different for honest-true-and-blue founders. But for a worker bee, sure, make a show that options are interesting to you, but don't trade them for cash compensation, it's a bad deal for you.
But you can pour yourself into a company heart and soul, one with options and one without, with exactly the same outcome: Zero. And to a large degree the outcome is not only not under your control, it is often under the control of predatory entities who do not want you to realize any return.
As an employee, get a competitive salary because the chances verge on certainty that those options will be worth zero, no matter how hard you work and no matter how much you think your contributions will move the needle.
The equation is different for honest-true-and-blue founders. But for a worker bee, sure, make a show that options are interesting to you, but don't trade them for cash compensation, it's a bad deal for you.