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Deciding between Senior Data & AI Engineer and CTO at Dutch tech startups (perm)

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    Deciding between Senior Data & AI Engineer and CTO at Dutch tech startups (perm)

    I was a contractor from 2012 till April last year, mostly in London for investment banks. I then took a perm role which I'm leaving next month, and have a number of perm offers on the table. Bear in mind that these are all in Holland where I've been for almost the past four years.

    I'm trying to decide between two of the offers. My background is .NET/C# development and am currently a lead dev. Experience is mainly backend, database (SQL), desktop dev (years ago) and some web frontend (JS) more recently, and also AI/ML and DevOps.

    Both offers are for relatively small companies, each consisting of around 15-20 staff.

    Company A - Senior Data & AI Engineer
    • Consultancy specialising in cloud and AI solutions (Microsoft stack)
    • Established nearly 3 years
    • 30-minute commute (driving)
    • Owner around 50 with corporate background
    • Formal office environment
    • Indefinite contract (unusual in Holland)


    Company B - CTO
    • Consultancy specialising in general full stack development (Microsoft stack)
    • Established around 6 months
    • 60 to 90-minute commute (driving or train)
    • Owner around 30 with entrepreneurial background (has two other successful companies in same office)
    • Informal office environment
    • 12-month initial contract that then becomes indefinite (usual setup in Holland for perm roles)


    Both companies are offering similar salaries with promise of 7% increase in Jan 2021. However, Company A is offering quantitative (revenue sharing) and qualitative bonuses as well as little things like laptop allowance, phone allowance, lease car allowance, plus pension - it all adds up. Company B is offering 5% equity that vests at 25% per year over four years. However, there is scope to negotiate with Company B to match or come close to Company A's base package - they've already offered a laptop allowance and lease car or transport allowance. I may be able to push them up further as they're extremely keen on getting me on board, especially after the CEO had a "very nice call" (as he put it) with my current manager (CFO/COO).

    I've been trying to decide between them for the past couple of weeks, and as you can probably imagine, I keep flitting between the two. I appreciate the above is fairly basic information, so feel free to ask me for more info if it will help with advising me.

    My personal interest is cloud and AI as this is where tech is going in the areas I (like to) work in, and this is already exactly Company A's specialism. With Company B, I am in the top tech position, and the CEO already has cloud on his radar for the company, and I will have the opportunity to steer the tech of the company in directions such as AI (market and staff resource permitting of course).

    Package-wise, if Company B is successful, then the 5% stock after four years could be extremely lucrative. But of course that's a risk. The CEO is very bullish, and his company is effectively a supplier to one of his existing successful companies. And my qualitative impression of him and his business is positive (but of course I could be wrong).

    I also like the idea of being CTO as my past experience has generally been helping teams I've worked in with their general direction, processes, way of working, high level tech decisions, and strategy, as well as hands-on coding (which I would continue to do so as CTO to some degree, although not as much as the Data & AI Engineer of course).

    I'm not looking for definitive answers here, but I would just like to get thoughts from people (a sounding board if you will), especially those who have had similar dilemmas or experiences, and this may help me improve my decision-making process and come closer to a more definitive answer myself.

    Any help or advice muchly appreciated! Thank you. ?

    #2
    Company A.

    Shorter commute = more time at home.
    …Maybe we ain’t that young anymore

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by WTFH View Post
      Company A.

      Shorter commute = more time at home.
      It'a a consultancy though - how much time will be on client site?
      merely at clientco for the entertainment

      Comment


        #4
        Company A - more time with the wife and kid due to the shorter commute
        "He's actually ripped" - Jared Padalecki

        https://youtu.be/l-PUnsCL590?list=PL...dNeCyi9a&t=615

        Comment


          #5
          Learn the name of the country first and then decide

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Eirikur View Post
            Learn the name of the country first and then decide
            Prioritised list of family and life, leadership, control and power and people, corporate culture.


            It's no good being CTO if you are stifled by the board, project and budget are treacle, you need approval and fear runs through the organisation, the brief history of the firm is toxic, the previous CTO bailed because venture funding was culled, he and she knew this.

            I agree with the Company A, because you almost always control of family, kids, cats, dogs and spouses and not necessarily in that order.

            Comment


              #7
              I'd pick which role seemed more interesting. I can put up with a lot if the work is interesting, challenging, making me learn something.

              But then I'm unmarried, my partner lives at the other end of the country (or a different country if Krankie gets her way) and I have no kids.

              Comment

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