I know a handful of people who quit their bigtech jobs since covid (because of RTO or other post-covid changes), and they all found it hard to find comparable jobs elsewhere. And while they won't openly say it, I think every one of them regrets it.
No commute, less stress, lower tax brackets and cost of living, ditched one of my cars (i.e. no maintenance, no insurance, no car tax), plus way more free time. Not eating out as much and being able to cook at home has saved me a ton of money and had a net health benefit -- less calories, and less booze, too.
$180,000 - Amazon junior (total comp)
$120,000 - 170,000 (usually straight salary) - Ohio architect with 20 years of experience
It's a very big difference. Obviously a whole different conversation when getting to L5 or whatever. We in the flyovers like to lie to ourselves that "it's not that different" and that "the COL balances it out", but the answer is no, it really doesn't. Also, many of us work 12 hour days and manage a bunch of stuff outside of our role - managing juniors, hiring, helping marketing, etc, etc. A lot wonder if it's easier to be an FTE at FAANG because that seems like it might be "just do YOUR job".
P.S. I do believe there isn't a huge skill gap a lot of the time, more of what people want to do. Some people here have been at FAANG, I have seen a lot go to FAANG, and so on. It is probably a higher average at FAANG though, with the whole bell curve shifted right a bit.
PSS If anyone has personal experience going from one of these to the other, let us know how it went for you. It seems pretty rare since there is the pay cut on one side and the leetcode hard interviews and going to the office on the other + moving and commuting 40 minutes+ every day.
Nowadays I think about how much wealthy I could've been. But I'm also happy not doing astronomical amount of work. Grass is always greener on the other side. :)