> I think it's worth keeping in mind that most people don't live in SF and most people wouldn't get a job at FAANG. People work at startups often because their reasonable alternative is working at a dev shop or the back office of SomeBigCo.
Even outside of SF there are a whole gulf of positions out there that fall somewhere between a dev shop / "back office of SomeBigCo" and starts ups. Plus sometimes "back offices" can be pretty rewarding too if the person in charge of that office has fostered the right kind of work environment.