> Also when I say FAANG - I kind of included similar large companies (Microsoft, LinkedIn, Salesforce, etc). Ahhh I was including those sort of companies (bari

> Also when I say FAANG - I kind of included similar large companies (Microsoft, LinkedIn, Salesforce, etc). Ahhh I was including those sort of companies (baring Microsoft) as part of my counterexample. If the discussion was "any large / reputable organisation" then my comments would have differed a little. In any case it sounds like London is very different to SV. It's very common for senior engineers to contracting and that's precisely because the difference in pay between permanent and contracting is night and day (the polar opposite to what you were describing in SV)