I work with many brilliant engineers who have been in Google for 5-10 years and are at L4. The pay is good enough if you don't have a large family to support and they simply can't be arsed to play that game.
"Pay is good enough" yeah sure.
Very difficult in the Bay Area given the housing costs. I guess it's possible if you lucked into a below market rate apartment and qualify for government assistance like Medicaid and food stamps.
0: https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Mcdonalds-Crew-Salary-...
1: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/business/global...