[quickthrower2]

Saving "A few 100k" is one solution, probably for the American FAANG (or equivalent) engineers. But there are other solutions.

Frugality helps - less money is required if you live in a shared house or a couch (you can invest in property at the same time but not live in it).

Having a life partner helps, one of you can have a job at all times, so one of you has the FU card.

Other sources of income. I think coding side projects are hard to make work, but real estate is more doable (but there is more risk and patience required).

Even with none of that, a good CV, interviewing technique, keeping up with the interview puzzles, and living somewhere with plenty of jobs will give you a FU card to your current company (but not the industry).

[sloopy543]

Oh for sure! There are so many different FU cards, money being the obvious one