First, equity isn't compensation, it's ownership. Second, it's about risk. Third, it's about luck.
So, if you get paid a market salary and benefits, you can't really expect to own much of the company that's providing you with that salary and benefits as it's essentially burning money on you. If you came in and said "can I get 1% ownership if I take 15k a year with no benefits" that would be a different story, but that's not how this works.
If you go in to a startup and say "I'll take 15K a year w/no benefits" you'll get a flat-out NO. That big exit-event equity is not for engineers. It's for founders.
So, if you get paid a market salary and benefits, you can't really expect to own much of the company that's providing you with that salary and benefits as it's essentially burning money on you. If you came in and said "can I get 1% ownership if I take 15k a year with no benefits" that would be a different story, but that's not how this works.