The best paying tech jobs I’ve had did not ask leetcode style hazing questions. I earn more and feel more valued at a mid size e-commerce company than I ever did previously working for FAANG or quant finance forms.
I think the high wage allure of those companies only applies to very junior engineers. Once you have 4 years of experience, if you’re good, lots of places will pay FAANG levels of total comp, and most won’t put you through leetcode hazing or stick you at the back of a thousand-engineer wait line for interesting projects.
Are you in the US? There’s not many companies outside of FAANG (and the FAANG-alike like Uber and Snapchat) that pay software devs with 5-10 years of experience over $300k/year. Perhaps financial companies in NYC?
I am in the US. Most midrange ecommerce companies will meet that total comp. I’ve had total comp north of that working for not-name-brand stock photography companies, education tech companies, payment processors and online shop / storefront companies.
