Make yourself a rainy day fund, 6-12 months of living expenses. Make sacrafices to make that happen. This puts you in a position of power when you do have to look for a new job, you don&#x27;t have to be desperate to take the first crappy low-paying thing that comes along.<p>Never consider equity &#x27;compensation&#x27; at non-public companies. If the job didn&#x27;t include the equity would you accept? If not, pass or negotiate more cash. In good times, only one out of 10 of those stock option agreements will be anything more than birdcage liners.<p>And, as a developer, there are parts of the codebase that are unglamorous but crutial to the company. Adopt those parts that others don&#x27;t want to work on. Be the go-to (crutial) guy for those parts of the code. When the time comes for cuts you&#x27;ll be indispensable.<p>Source: went traveling the world on my rainy day fund in the 2000 crash.