FAANG engineers aren't necessarily working on the most interesting or most challenging problems. Having worked at a FAANG I know several FAANG engineers making

FAANG engineers aren't necessarily working on the most interesting or most challenging problems. Having worked at a FAANG I know several FAANG engineers making $300k+ while working less than 10-15 hours a week. Doing the work at these FAANG companies is the easy part. Getting a job there is the harder part. And you generally have to fit a certain profile (target school, age range, geography etc) to be given a shot at an interview. Tech companies are generally a lot less exclusive than other higher paying industries like wall street though, and you can still score an interview at a FAANG even without the right kind of profile.