Equity, bonuses, and total compensation for developers, explained

Base salary is the visible number. The real offer is everything else, and it can be worth more than the difference you are haggling over.

The four parts

• Base, the salary. The part you budget with.
• Bonus, annual or performance. Ask: guaranteed, target, or discretionary? "Target" is a hope; "guaranteed" is money.
• Equity, stock or options. Ask about the strike price, vesting schedule, and what the shares are worth today, a real, recent 409A-style valuation, not a founder's dream.
• Benefits, health, pension, equipment, learning budget, leave. Individually small; collectively thousands.

A simple way to compare offers

Convert everything to a yearly number and add it up. Two offers at the same base can differ by a third once equity and benefits are counted.

Questions that save you later

• "What percentage of last year's bonus was actually paid?"
• "What's the cliff on the equity, and the total time to vest?"
• "How has the valuation changed in the last year?"

Read the fine print

Equity in an early startup is a lottery ticket with a story attached. Treat it as upside, never as base. Use researching your worth to protect the part you can actually spend, and take the whole package to negotiation.