[decafninja]

I imagine the money helps. Compensation at a FAANG or other top tech company seems to be on monumentally different tier than the next level down.

You could splurge it, but you could also manage it well and potentially retire early? My friend seems to be on this path.

You could use your time at a FAANG to get experience, accumulate money, and have the FAANG brand on your resume to leverage for future job prospects?

Also from everything I hear, working as a SWE at FAANG and other top tech companies are still more pleasant to work at than as a SWE in other industries - i.e. finance.