Curious how do current FAANG and BigTech folks living in VHCOL areas think of their path ahead? Specifically, Senior IC folks. The old playbook of switching for a higher pay when things go sour is no longer valid. Things would go sour around 3-4 years along with RSUs. But now they seem to be in a never ending sour loop. Almost all tech companies have toxic work setting. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice everything and all of their time for these new AI mission companies. Makes it harder to upskill. If you stay, you stagnate and your workload keeps going up but not pay. If you're on a visa, its even more harder.

For those of you that have a job but unhappy and find it unsustainable, What are you doing? Have you had success taking a paycut and moving to a lower COL area?