Wow this could be me!

Almost the same experience, except without the obsessive marriage to poor products and I actually did learn how to pass those l33t code and behavioral interviews.

Basically I left the software career and did a tech startup that essentially failed but made me an okay amount of money (yay no dilutive capital), tried to leverage my newly awesome network to get a job and also went to through the recruiter path. Once I started getting good at the interviews and solving them above the average time, I still wasn't getting hired. Like this guy, I did this with about 20 different companies, although when I look at forums people are doing this with way more companies and way more time studying and practicing. So that's kind of a pathetic waste of resources happening industry wide.

All the big tech companies interview me for an L5 or equivalent. All the non-big tech companies just didn't want to pay me more than $180,000. Which eventually turned into a big deal because some disgruntled ex-hiring managers would retroactively contact me and tell me they got overruled and that my skillset and experience should have landed me roles at 180-220k. Improbable and a completely separate discussion, (am I getting overriden by a particular VC board member? nah it doesn't go that deep), any way I honestly just have better things to do. I had begun to be willing to take a much lower more relatable salary or compensation package, but then I found another lucrative project to do (with no dilutive capital yay) and that's been great. Crypto market picked up again too, great way to make money. It is still strange that the private sector doesn't accurately value this skillset yet (employed "blockchain jobs" pay low with startups paying the highest and midsize companies that are dabbling in blockchain are treating it like an intern play thing. all while contract and solo work pays or earns several multiples above market.)

Yes, another similarity is our observation about San Francisco and the Bay Area being just a working class town with high salaries. People there think they are special because the salaries are high. But it's really just like factories, like the article mentioned. The idea that they're special allows for all kinds of cultish abuse.

Use this thread as a collection of anecdotes to get a view of the reality, as soon as I was willing to interview for a role that would pay between $110,000-$135,000 the entire experience was completely different and better. Despite thinking "ah I'm an unemployable founder" or "ah maybe I'm older and I hit the wall I read about" or "ah my google results must not be good" or something, the experience at the lower salary (but high to that company in a different city) matched my positive interview and onboarding experiences earlier in my career. I did not accept as I was on to other things. So really all I have left for comparison purposes is the compensation: industry wide, people just don't want to pay me above a certain amount. They look at me and don't say yes. So there is a glass ceiling for me in that field, not the first person to draw that conclusion. Travel and doing my own thing is more fulfilling - I have a lot of lucrative software projects to continue rolling out - although the earnings are mostly similar to FAANG L5's with vesting stock price appreciation, its not as risk free as just showing up to a FAANG job as I meet many of them in my travels (over the last 6 months any way) and get a feel for their obligations or lack thereof, hope the industry gets better!