I have the impression that what distinguishes FAANG companies from others is primarily because of it’s popularity, and it’s hiring rounds.
I don’t see all employees of FAANG companies work on exciting stuffs. It’s a very tiny proportion. The rest are maintaining screws and bolts. It’s like 50000s people are maintaining a car. Yay i’m a great someone because i maintain a micro screw!
I think it’s quite boring in terms of personal growth. Yes you have great insights, you see how 5 of the world’s largest entities do stuffs, you touched 1000s of lines in x time that put app y in the hands of million of people, but you are missing on cutting edge tech. It’s impossible for each and every 50000 person to be involved in cool tech as the whole company will go bust overnight. The bigger the mammoth, the greater is the need for stability. Most employees interact with the ‘stable’ part. You sure can enjoy where you want.
There are big companies with tougher rounds than FAANG but not with the same level of impact. Same with pay. Same with perks.
Everytime i see a vid on Ex-FAANG this or that, i’m like hum hum what the person was doing exactly. Oh you helped one of the FAANG do this or that or you are at that level good but unless you are in the tiny percent of people who drive innovation forward (FAANG have their own problems which a tiny portion of people are chosen to work on, but again problems at scale is not a FAANG exclusivity), i don’t see the merit of being ex-FAANG.
In sum i don’t believe that great people come only from 5 companies. The world of software is diverse. Stunning pieces drop from many big and small companies around the world. If you open your horizon you will see that the world of software is bigger than and not restricted to those 5.