[clusterhacks]

I think your experience is much more common that many people here admit (or maybe know) and you should not feel "unlucky." It may even be most normal outcome outside of Silicon Valley or FAANG.

In my area (middle eastern United States), once you hit the local salary average for software engineers, opportunities to take the next step up seem extremely rare. There is a never-ending set of jobs for people with 0-3 years of experience at below-average salaries. These aren't interesting at all - mostly legacy software support or quirky data analysis roles.

My last two job interview experiences were unproductive. I interviewed with a local but larger company. Very good experience with 3 of 4 interviewers but the hiring manager gave off negative vibes. I got an offer for 20% less than the minimum salary figure I gave them before starting the interview process. Declined. The other interview process was for a remote-only company. I made it through all their interviews and successfully handled their programming challenges. No offer - I had a friend there who told me I made it further than anybody who didn't get an offer but they were concerned I hadn't been building more complex software at my current job despite my performance during interviews. I was quite bummed about that.

I'm debating just doing leetcode for the next 3-4 months and taking a shot at FAANG. On the one hand, I have great work/life balance and probably job security for the next 10-15 years. But I make a below average salary and have started wondering if I'll regret not experiencing the FAANG interview gauntlet. Ego-driven if I'm honest with myself.

Alternatively, I may work for another 3-5 years and then go teach math and programming in a local middle school. I taught programming as an adjunct at the undergraduate level and mostly enjoyed that. Heck, I could even take a teaching assistant gig in the local school system and consider myself retired. I am a little worried about bureaucracy in that environment though.

[nordicengineer]

I can totally relate to your take. I've also considered a change out of IT into the educational sector. Problem is that if you'd want that, you'd have to put in quite a lot of years of formal education (I would call it certification). I think you need to set aside almost 2 years to become even a kindergarten educator. So forget the low pay once you become one, consider having a family on hold for 2 years.

[sharadov]

I also recommend interviewing for SV tech companies that are not FAANG. A bunch are not leetcode heavy and pay just as well and most offer completely remote roles.