I would take a solid salary over equity almost any day, having been burned by failed startups in the past, and/or left before my options vested. It'd be nice to get a solid salary AND equity, but I'm never going to work anywhere again where I take a pay cut in exchange for equity.

True that. Even a successful exit can lead to employee common stockholders (i.e. holders of stock gained through vested, executed options) getting screwed. Look what happened in Gilt Groupe's IPO, for example: https://www.vox.com/2016/1/19/11588918/gilt-groupe-is-a-caut...

I agree, but you'd probably have a different set of expectations if you were founding a company.