Part of the problem is the lack of good well paying employment options for engineers in small or medium sized companies and companies that are not FAANG. Especially outside of SV. Many of us at FAANG companies would love to leave, but it's getting increasingly hard to find good employers doing interesting work who a) aren't FAANG companies and b) aren't looking to be acquired by a FAANG company.

In the Bay Area there are definitely more options, but outside of there sometimes you have to go to a startup just to find interesting work and a smaller, focused, team.