FAANG : Great co workers and the time of your life particularly if you live in the bay area. Seems like lots of pay but you will often feel like you are living hand to mouth. I made just enough to live in a friend's dining room. Expect great perks, great nightlife, great outdoors and long work hours. After FAANG and the bay area, anyplace else you go will seem like a huge financial demotion (even though it might actually be a radical lift in standard of living). If you are nice/popular then 360s can be ok (if you have a thick skin). Some FAANGS will summarily cull the bottom of their peer review piles on a yearly basis and if you have a bad quarter, join the wrong project, or piss off the wrong people you had better be prepared to be crucified. Always take advantage of stock options and do not sell them or use them to offset your daily living expenses (you might be tempted to if you are living in your friend's dining room).
Big Finance: Unless you are in risk management or trading, the pace will seem glacial compared to a FAANG. Can still be great pay and high pressure though. Expect a steady path of constant promotion, kind of like leveling in WoW. Started as a consultant, left as a VP. Corporate games can be important. Learn to play golf, drink scotch and how to fake like you are actually smoking that cigar. If your bonus is not a SIGNIFICANT portion of your compensation, you still have lots of room to be promoted. Corporate standards are likely going to dictate your world so make sure you are into their stack as you will be bound to it. Want to explore Go rather than write a new risk model in Java, tough luck.
Startups: Crazy pressure as a result of your belief in delusional promises. Almost like joining a cult. You might even share a bedroom with a coworker and work in a house dedicated to your startup. Insanity due to lack of sleep, overwork and peer pressure is sure to follow. You will work until you drop because your new family does the same and because (in the back of your mind) you think your million shares in this thing will be worth a fortune one day. Solve problems using your stack du-jour at impressive speeds and little to no restrictions but be prepared for ever shifting corporate priorities and objectives to match the interests of the "next" seed investor. If you are part of a "successful" exit (you won't be) be prepared to learn that early investors have privileged positions and that your shares are worthless. If your exit is an actual IPO, congrats, you hit the mythical jackpot.
"Which will allow me to grow and learn more?"
Well, I would say that depends on "what" you want to learn. All paths have learning and growth opportunities. While you are young, a startup does not have the risk it does for someone with a family to support. FAANGS also tend to be the "post college playground" of the young. Big Finance has LOTS of structure and corporate standards will likely dictate things that might be free choices in other environments. There are advantages to that as well though.
I guess I would recommend that (if all options were open to you) that you work at a FAANG as long as you can hack it without burning out then move to Big Finance or Big Pharma.
best of luck
Why do you say to work at FAANG 'as long as you can hack it'? Have you preferred the working environment in Big Finance or Big Pharma? Are those jobs more stable?
Thanks again