Negotiate! Are you a young engineer who is unaware of the importance of equity in your total compensation package? In this episode of Tech Careers and Money Talk, Ajit Deshpande, an IT leader in Silicon Valley, shares his career journey and experiences with compensation negotiation and equity. Ajit emphasizes the importance of being a generalist and constantly learning new skills, as well as the value of building trust and communication between different teams in a company. He also shares his insights on what he looks for when considering a job opportunity, including non-financial metrics like company culture and values, as well as financial metrics like employee size and revenue.
Ajit's experiences at companies like Align Technology, VMware, and Splunk inspired him to help other companies go through IPOs and educate others on the value of equity in compensation. He advises young engineers to ask for data and information to make informed decisions and stresses the importance of continuous learning and taking failures as lessons learned. If you're looking to advance your career in the tech industry, this episode is a must-listen.
In this episode, we talk about:
[00:00] Introduction
[01:06] Ajit's Career Journey
[09:59] Using Integrations to Your Advantage
[14:05] Taking a Step Back to Speed Up
[20:04] How to Build Trust
[23:06] Negotiating for Total Compensation
[24:24] Equity in Total Compensation
[32:02] Factors in Evaluating Companies
[34:35] Financial and Non-Financial Metrics
[38:28] Learning and Recharging
[40:44] Soft Skills and Best Investment of Time
