> I've never had this impression of FAANG.

I have. It was a popular myth when I was coming up. I'm the same age as the OP (40, graduated in 2005). Back in the early 00s, google was seen by most as the promised land. Facebook was too, for a while. Those initial impressions, even though they were formed from afar, can be hard to shake.

It kind of still is in terms of compensation. And many equate promised land with compensation unfortunately.

It was more than money. Back then the crazy Faang pay bump was less of a thing. But the chance to be trusted with broad autonomy and work with brilliant people on projects that could help billions of people is something very special. People were drawn there by 20% time back in the day. This is barely a thing now, but the difference seems to be covered by the increased FAANG bucks.

By “20% time” do you mean the recommendation to spend 20% of your time learning?

>”Work on being content”

Is that a thing? I don’t think that’s a thing (separate from working on creating the conditions for contentment, which you might have a wrong idea about, but which are nevertheless real and out in the world).

Re. FAANG I feel this must have been true at some point? I knew people who worked at these places in the 2010s and they loved it. I think I must have missed the golden period. There are probably still great teams with great culture at these places but they are difficult to get into and are the minority now.

And you're right, my expectations absolutely set me up for failure.