You add the cost of the option to the strike price if it's a call. That is your break even. You want the price of the stock to go above your break even on or before the expiration date.
If it's a put, you subtract the cost of the option from the strike price to get your break even. In this case, you want the price of the stock to go below your break-even on or before the expiration date.
What you pay to buy an option and what the strike price is definitely matters a lot. If you bought a call with a strike price of 292 at an options cost of 3, your break-even would be 295. Whatever date the option was for, the price would need to get to 295 or above.
If you're going the other direction, with a put, a strike price of 292 and options cost of 3 would have break even at 289. Whatever date the option was for, the price would need to get down to 289 or below.
Going further otm has a lower option cost but increases your risk because you are looking for a larger distance between the current market price and your strike price. If you bought a call option with a strike price of 294 and a option price of 1.75, you're upfront cost would be lower but you're risk is higher because your Breakeven would be 295.75 instead of 295.
The date also matters because it gives time for the price to move to where you need it to move. Because of that, an option expiring 2 months from now would cost more up front then an option expiring 2 weeks from now due to the time having added value. Having an expiration date that is further out decreases your risk because you have more time for the stock price to get to where you needed to get, but it will increase your upfront cost for the option purchase.
I'm a little concerned over you asking if it matters or not to go for a cheaper priced higher risk option or a higher price lower risk option. That's really basic and isn't a concept that is specific to options. One of them leads to more money but higher risk and the other leads to lots of money but lower risk. You have to decide, based on how you feel about a stocks potential for price movement, which of the options is best for your strategy.
I'm curious what this opportunity is. Normally you would just trade options with your own money, or use them to help protect the value you have in stocks you own. If you're going to be going to a company that is going to have you investing in options, they should have a specific strategy that they want you to follow.
As far as coming from the stock world being a drawback, you need to run from those people if they believe that. Options are directly attached to stocks. Only a fool would want to trade options without any knowledge of the stock, sector, market, and overall economy that all have heavy effects on the value of options. Anyone who starts trading options without understanding the things that drive its value has a very high likelihood of finding their way to 0 at some point.
If you have a strong knowledge of the stock market, you've got most of what you need to trade options. What you don't have is knowledge specific to options that can be learned in a fairly short period of time. Not mastered, but learned to the point where you can be trading in a profitable way.
You need to be able to wrap your head around what options are though and how they work. I know some very smart people who do extremely well in normal stocks who can't wrap their head around options. It happens and you just have to figure out if you are one of those people or not. Having a good knowledge of stocks though is far from a drawback.
P.S. Friends help when they can. Those are just people you know the names of. Actual friends are out there, spend a little time looking for them.