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>, the grind for the first few years to make a small mark and advance up the ladder is very similar,

Citation needed. At which FAANG do people work 90 hours a week? I see junior engineers working consistently 40-50 hours (FAANG ML lab), and some managers perhaps putting in 55-60. I have never even heard of people at Amazon (arguably the worst grind) putting in these hours.

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When the companies were smaller, there was far too much work and it was all high value. Therefore, they hired lots of driven people, gave them some autonomy and watched them work themselves into the grave for you.

These days, by the time you are grinding to make the next level and avoid the 2 year cut you are already past the point we are talking about. The post-hire grind at a FAANG is now closer to what a middle manager at GS would do; it is good money but you are not going to make more than $1M/year working at a FAANG unless you are a rock star or director level. OTOH let me tell you stories about pre-IPO Facebook or Google....

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