I quit FAANG and started doing my own thing. I found I hated a ll the paperwork. Dealing with taxes, accounts receivable, accounts payable, business registration, finding clients, meeting with clients, networking for new work, unmovable deadlines, pressure, fears of disappointing a client or the client being late on payment or me being late on filing some form my government requires but I have no idea I need, or a million other things.

I realized that some level of not getting 100% of the value i generate is worth it to have someone else deal with all that stuff.

I'm not saying whether or not engineers are underpaid for the value they create but it's worth something > 0