I think the problem is that FAANG developers are being seen as the worst of both worlds: solid performers but with Rockstar expectations (salary, desirability,

I think the problem is that FAANG developers are being seen as the worst of both worlds: solid performers but with Rockstar expectations (salary, desirability, job hopping). And a bias towards overcomplication. (I am not making any claim this is true, but it's the view I encounter) Personally, having worked in very small orgs (8 people) and moderately large ones (800), there is definitely a culture shock moving down an order of magnitude. You have to be more generalist and keep a very goal-oriented view. Small company work tends to be much higher ambiguity; you have to think about delivering something that may change within a few months, and where outages are seen as 'a good problem to have'. Scaling is less important than agility.