Is there life after FAANG? | Hacker News Reader

Is there life after FAANG?

I dreamed for years to get into FAANG and now I want out. I get paged 20 times yesterday from 4AM to 1AM next day. I feel like quitting and spending the rest of my life hunting for truffles deep in the forest. Am I the fool and will regret it? Did you quit FAANG and regret it?

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The disconnect between very "FAANG-focused" people and reality is always interesting to me.

1. There are a ton of good, well-paying software engineering jobs out there, especially in the startup world. Maybe not as high total comp as your Bigtech job, but still plenty adequate, esp if you've already made a good pile of money from Bigtech.

2. Not everyone in Bigtech has as unhappy a job as you seem to have; maybe you could switch teams within your company, or hop to a different "FAANG"

3. "I dreamed for years to get into FAANG" <-- I just don't comprehend this. Like, I would personally like to work at one of these at some point for the numerous benefits it would offer, but I can't comprehend it as holding the level of value that I have seen many people ascribe to it.

I’ve never understood the attitude of “dreamed for years to get into FAANG”. I’d guess you’ll regret it if you have an attachment to being able to tell other people you work for one of those companies, or are attached to the compensation packages and can’t match it elsewhere. If it’s the technology/work that brought you there, I doubt you’ll miss it since lots of other places have exciting interesting work.

I think you’re the only one who can answer that question, and it really boils down to being very honest with yourself about why you dreamed for years to get into those places and what you’ll lose by leaving.

FAANG is not a monolith and your experience is not universal based on my personal experience and those of other colleagues. There are plenty of opportunities in big tech that don’t involve getting paged in the middle of the night. You sound burnt out. Maybe take some time off and then see if you still want to hunt truffles or find a different role in tech

Of course, there is :)

Once you've been in a FAANG you can always go back. Now you have a few things to understand before jumping back at working on anything:

- Why you didn't like it? - Maybe it was your particular role, team, or colleague? - What would you love to do in life? - How can you move towards what you love?

If it is hunting for truffles, let it be and don't give a fuck about others' opinions. Do what you love, and life will be so much better for you.

They put on me on a team where there is one long term guy who is the only one who knows how the system works. Because of that he gets away with everything because they can't fire him. So my job is to be a backup expert in the system but he fights my progress because he doesn't want to lose his power.

Maybe present the facts with your manager, and in the same time try to jump teams.

Have you told your manager you hate what you're doing and want to quit? People are people sometimes and want to help. What's the sense in quitting before you try to fix anything?

Grind for a few years, live in the office, eat company food and shower in company. Then you can do whatever you want, just remember not to get married and a kid and you are good for life.

My serious plan if wife ditches me (except the FAANG part as I suck).

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