been FAANG adjacent a few times, but in several of F500s, and in different industries/verticals. no "official" up-or-out in any of those, but definitely a thin

been FAANG adjacent a few times, but in several of F500s, and in different industries/verticals. no "official" up-or-out in any of those, but definitely a thing in all of them. at a mid-to-senior level or above you're getting paid -- not FAANG pay, but in most cases pretty solid -- and you need to justify your existence. If you're not getting "atta-boys" on the regular then you're gonna get chopped. One place fired all of the Architects, for example, because they felt they didn't really do much. Three quarters of "what does this team do to deliver" and they were gone.