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> I think as a dev big corps are the way better bet. Not much to loose, but possibly high payout. Startups very rarely pay out for devs.

I disagree. These days the founders are devs more and more often. However, usually you have to get out of your comfort zone and do also other than dev work in a startup. Meaning also learning the business stuff. It isn't rocket science, but for many devs it can be quite uncomfortable.

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Kind of my point. As a startup dev you have to learn biz. And a really great dev should not have to do that. It is a waste of time and talent. OP was asking how to make money as an engineer. Engineers can play the startup lottery. But they are unlikely to win it. You need a Jobs for every Woz. But as a Woz it is hard and unlikely to find a Jobs - and not get fucked over. Hence my advice.

I think you missed out on the point of compensation. Even as a first employee working at a startup, you're only expected to get 1-3% equity, but you're as you stated doing many things outside of dev work. Big Corp Devs perhaps don't have as many tangential responsibilities, but they will often start with a significantly increased base salary which can be a serious opportunity cost to consider.

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