You mean countries like Norway where pay for Senior Engineers is 1/4th and the income tax is around 45% (+25% VAT on after-tax income)?

Yes, but the OP wants less pay for less work which is fair but not an option at lots of tech companies.

So you either play the overwork game or don't get to play at all. That's all part of the golden handcuffs routine, along with stock holdings etc. Give your life to the company or bugger off, no middle ground.

That's why I wanted to point out that it's entirely reasonable. It's just a different work/life weighting, people should be able to still work in tech and not have an 80/hr week.

Independent contract work where you bill hourly is a thing in tech and lots of people are doing it. Also, I'm sure if you really look around and are willing to make compromises in terms of pay, you can negotiate all kinds of positions with all kinds of flexibility.

In this space, I see that most people don't have what they want, mostly because they're not REALLY willing to make those compromises. I see a lot of people saying these things but they mostly want everything on top of everything else they take for granted.

Certainly, when I burned out was when I decided to go independent. I waver between full time hours and part time hours, depending on the work/life split I'm after at the time, but it's all contract work.

Contracting has it's own set of challenges and it's distinct from a full-time job. I take on the risk and additional challenges of contracting in order to be able to manage my own time, but it's not for everyone.

I think you're right about compromise too. Working for FANG has become a bit of a social institution and I think some people get into the false assumption that FANG and startups are the only logical options in tech. If you're willing to compromise on location, salary and prestige, you can definitely find tech jobs outside of the various bubbles.