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Ask HN: How do you escape golden handcuffs at FAANG?

2 points

1 hour ago

| 4 comments

I’m currently at a FAANG company and have achieved FIRE, but I’m finding it hard to walk away from the golden handcuffs.

Those who did it, how did you do it? What did you move onto from FAANG?

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KaiLetov

1 hour ago

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The money thing is real though. What helped me was starting to build stuff on the side before quitting. Shipped a couple of small projects, got some revenue trickling in, and at some point the side thing became more exciting than the day job. That's when leaving felt obvious, not scary.

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bigfatkitten

1 hour ago

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Lived within my means with the knowledge that the party would not go on forever.

Pretended my base salary was my only salary, and invested the rest.

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davydm

1 hour ago

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I didn't move from FAANG, but a very similar equivalent in my home country. I saw people "golden handcuffed" all the time, and the honest truth is that you have to decide what's more important to you - spending cash on vacuous bullshit and being unhappy at work, or not dreading every monday. You can still find places that pay well, and you don't have to sacrifice your life to them. The big thing is learning to live within your means - or, simply, to be able to say "no" to the little kid inside you who wants everything.

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rkomorn

1 hour ago

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> The big thing is learning to live within your means

I'd say it's more "learning to live within the means of a non-FAANG person."

My FAANG colleagues spending 4x what I was on their mortgages in the Bay Area were also technically living within their means, but it also meant they had no choice but to stay handcuffed.

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rvz

52 minutes ago

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> My FAANG colleagues spending 4x what I was on their mortgages in the Bay Area were also technically living within their means, but it also meant they had no choice but to stay handcuffed.

That is the problem. It is about how much you are keeping after taxes. If >75 of that is going to bills, mortgages, cars and the stock drops, then you are essentially keeping far less and you'll find yourself stuck in your job.

Now that AI is everywhere, the loss of their job means a ~5 month runway (If on H-1B you have 2 months) is the reason why folks in the Bay Area at FAANG are terrified of leaving their jobs and find themselves handcuffed.

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rvz

1 hour ago

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Just leave and build your own startup / business.

What are you scared of?