This is why it is much better for younger engineers to work at smaller companies working on interesting ideas but if you wanna get google pay, then you gotta make those sacrifices.
Strongly disagree. Most new grads who gets offers from Google, Microsoft or another big-league software company, should absolutely take it. There are only a few very specific smaller companies working on cutting edge ideas and it's unlikely that a new entrant in the industry will be able to identify them.