[SZJX]

This comment chain is well said. There are more likely to be various random events that screw you over or suddenly put extra pressure on you at smaller companies, not to mention the lack of perks and compensation. Recently an analogy that I've come up with is index fund investing: Sure one can attempt all sorts of creative investment combinations/maneuvers, and sometimes they do make it big, but in the end, the most reliable and care-free way to grow your wealth is simply to follow the mainstream advice and go for the index funds, even though they "sound" boring af. They are recommended by the mainstream for a reason just like how people flock to big tech companies for a reason (at least this still applies in our current day and age). I've had some alternative ideas about my career with various excuses (e.g. I'd only work with a functional language), but increasingly I realize that I should probably just quit all the tossing around and go for such a path instead. It's similar with my investments: Had I not performed various stupid active trades here and there and just put my money into the index funds, or even just parked my money in cryptocurrency and held on to them, I would have got amazing, carefree returns.