If the SV companies are hiring remote employees now, that certainly changes things. I wouldn't put too much stock in the FAANG experience though, unless you luc

If the SV companies are hiring remote employees now, that certainly changes things. I wouldn't put too much stock in the FAANG experience though, unless you luck into a company trying to make a prestige hire; they are competing directly with people with the same experience and skills, but earned in places where the wages are much less (say UK, Canada or Australia). I don't know the actual pay details, but we have had experienced people who have moved to us from FAANG and I'm confident they would have taken a pretty large pay cut assuming what I hear about the wages is true (but still happy, since it is generally tied to lifestyle changes and/or moving somewhere much cheaper to live). We employ a lot of remote Python and Go devs, and geographically we seem to have ended up with the most head count in New Zealand, Brazil, and the UK, despite the population advantage of the USA. Its remote work, so you can only afford to hire experienced staff because mentorship and training is so much harder.