$25,000 in 1996 is $42,000 in 2021.
Seems like a modest incentive for top tech talent, even back then.
* To respond to the comment below, the author had been working as a hardware systems engineer at headquarters for 10 years by 1996.
That started to change in the dotcom frenzy but that was still a couple of years away at that point.
There was a reset between then and now: The Great Recession around 2008. Starting salaries were below 50K, and I was really surprised when a few years later I got an offer at that amount (also right out of college) - I remember looking around for what to expect, and it was more like 35K.
https://web.archive.org/web/20010203125200/http://www.techwe...
Those are for the Bay Area, not New England (probably important) and for software (less important). He said he'd been at Digital for 10+ years by then, so for a Bay Area salary, I'd guess he made $100k. In New England, I wouldn't be shocked if it was more like $60-$80, so the bonus was up to a third of his salary.
Given that a number of “achievement” awards are in the < 5k realm today at major tech companies, I think this should be compared to those, not annual bonuses. So in Google terms this is like an outsized spot bonus opportunity with clear (flawed) rules.
What is your lesson here? My lesson is to become the house, because the house always wins.