Many market trading firms and hedge funds pay their engineers about the same as they'd make in FAANG, in all cash. However, you're locked to another high cost o

Many market trading firms and hedge funds pay their engineers about the same as they'd make in FAANG, in all cash. However, you're locked to another high cost of living city (NYC) unless you work in commodities, which is in Chicago (cold six months of the year), or you work in oil/gas which is in Houston, TX (muggy for 8-9 months of the year, and you're also driving _literally everywhere_). If you're a people person and are willing to travel, you can make a lot of money in tech sales. If you're not a people person but are (really) good with tech and are willing to travel, you can make a lot of (but not FAANG-tier) money in consulting or pre-sales. The best part about these two options is that you can escape the need to live in a city with a very high cost of living. Many of my peers make a lot of money but live in crazy cheap cities. Just have to be willing to be near an airport (about an hour away is good). I hear that engineers working at defense contractors can make ridiculous money as well, but you're working at the speed of the government, most of the "good" work requires a government clearance, and the tech gets older as you go up in clearance level. You're also, more than likely, going to work on things that kill people or save people from being killed, in some way or another. To quantify, "a lot of money" to me means >$250k/year.