>I have zero trust in the long term outlook of my current firm. My stock vests every 3 months and I sell it immediately. If the company shows signs of going down I'll cut my losses and go somewhere else.
That's funny - every business-related thread on HN contains complaining about companies focusing on the next quarter results, yet even when people are given stock on preferential terms and have information unavailable for retail investors, they'll still behave in a way that incentives company to do that. And then complain during next layoffs probably :-).
That is an interesting observation. On one side we could say when it is your own money one behaves more egotistically.
On the other side, if OP was satisfied in the current firm (they admit they are not) and could have an impact in the direction of the company (instead of short-term results) maybe he would hold on to the stock for longer.
Well that's why I think in the end a lot of current generation of IT engineers isn't very thoughtful.
They have tons of options for work which will align with your views, yet they keep choosing ones that pay the most in short term and will not accept anything more than 9-to-5 work with zero responsibility for the company.
I did the complete opposite and I think it went way better for me, but of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion. And their own place in layoffs.
The business commands the resources to decide if their strategy is long or short term. An employee selling stock grants has no such decision authority, and selling the stock is diversifying their risk in the long term.
That's funny - every business-related thread on HN contains complaining about companies focusing on the next quarter results, yet even when people are given stock on preferential terms and have information unavailable for retail investors, they'll still behave in a way that incentives company to do that. And then complain during next layoffs probably :-).