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Is it possible that the causation is the other way? FAANG doesn't pay well because its dispiriting and toxic, its toxic because it pays well. This attracts all sorts of behavior.

I mean, it paid well in the early-mid 2010s also and was way less toxic.

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Out of curiosity, what has changed over time that has made it more toxic? I left Google in 2015.

It certainly had its share of toxic traits, but it was at the "what place doesn't?" level.

My feeling was multiple generations of optimizing for promo packets had made the entire culture cynical at G and Amazon. It's one thing when people give lip service to the right things but sometimes the wrong things are rewarded. It hits another level when leaders are actively coaching and advocating cynicism. Throw in layoff fear on top of that and now it's a political mess.

Mmm. The way users are talked about at web and software companies now is almost nothing like 20-30 years ago. Aside from a few times when things got a bit too annoying (like maybe a few hours every month or so) I barely remember the negativity at all. We almost never talked about users, just the product. There was wayyy less cynicism and anger in the workplace.

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