Raises hand.

I can absolutely with all honesty say that I would never work for a large company. I worked for a Fortune 10 (non tech) company for 3 years out of my 20 year career and I said never again. Large companies are too stifling and too regimented for me. Even if I didn’t have to move from my low cost of living area and a I was offered a job at a FAANG, I would say no.

Well with one exception, I might be willing to work for AWS as a consultant.

If you have the pick between Oracle, Google and Amazon, youd likely also have an offer at a different company. So its a valid choice.

I have all of those things, and I've followed though. I know lots of other quality devs who have done the same. I don't think people like us are as rare as you suppose. It's not like the job market is particularly tight, after all.

Sorry, but: This is nonsense. It's not like these are the only options, and you cannot get a comparable offer somewhere else.