You do not work at FAANG. You are disheartened. But, don't be!
Be Happy. FAANG or otherwise.
So, you don’t work for any of these companies. Does it mean your work is not as exciting as it could possibly be?
To be absolutely challenged, excited, rewarded, proud and happy, do you really need to work for one of these companies? What if you worked for a tiny startup, or a mid-sized company not many people have heard of, or a large company that doesn’t exactly build the world’s most attractive software? Can you still feel proud, happy and stoked?
Well, like most things in life, there’s no simple and straightforward answer (and certainly no “one size fits all”) but here’s my take. If you find yourself pondering over similar things, my hope is that some of what I share here will provide (some) clarity to you.
No, you definitely do not need to work for any of these companies to do meaningful & exciting work. There’s numerous other options.
Yes, it’s likely that these companies provide a very compelling environment for learning but that may or may not work for everyone.
Yes, I love to build complex software and have done my best to always find work that challenges me. I have never looked to live in comfort zones yet I have never, ever yearned to work for any of these companies either.
Yes, I have been able to do work that has kept me more than motivated, and thrilled over the years, and none of them have had anything to do with the glamor or status associated with these big names.
No, I don’t enjoy competing with others. I see myself as my only competition. And for someone like that, I am rather skeptical that these much sought after companies would actually even work.
No, an email address ending in @apple.com, or @google.com means literally nothing to me.
To enjoy your (work) life, what you need is definitely not what someone else you know needs. You will need to take the difficult path to find out what you really need. It takes time, and it changes all the time.
To be challenged, excited and happy, you certainly need to work with folks who know more than you. You need to work for yourself, or for companies that you connect with at various levels (people, engineering, technology, location, pace of work, remuneration, and a lot more). These companies don’t need to be multi-billion or multi-trillion dollar entities.
Night Shyamalan is able to create wonderful movies at ridiculously low budgets working out of Philly. He didn’t need to move to LA. You don’t need to move to San Francisco (if you don’t have the compelling urge to).
The sheer beauty of Software Development is that you don’t need too much to get going. You don’t need a lab, or chemicals to be wary of, and there aren’t too many (if any) dangers to avoid. You just need a decent machine, a decent-enough idea and a lot of passion (a lot of it!). That will give you a lot more satisfaction than running a race you perhaps don’t really want to run. Trust me.
Keep it simple. Keep it on Snowpal.