What some Twitter discourse on how people could possibly work for certain tech companies fails to appreciate is that FANG doesn't just pay well, at mid-levels, it actually pays 2-3X what you'd make doing the same work elsewhere. Leaving means a different future for your family.

If the products FANG companies produce ever seem like they are short-sightedly optimizing for a single metric/dimension....it could be because they attract and retain talent who, in life, have short-sightedly optimized for a single metric/dimension (grades, pay, etc).

Another under-appreciated aspect is opportunity they give to junior folks. They don't mind wasting money spinning up entirely redundant teams/orgs, and while this may make them sprawling/Kafkaesque, they also don't mind giving chances to new folks that smaller cos would overlook.

When I transitioned into PM, not a ton of companies would have taken a chance on me. I've been at current company 4 years. I swear I'll quit every year, but looking back am amazed at the dumb mistakes I've gotten away with and what I've learned, which makes me grateful.

"Breaking up big tech" may best be accomplished not by making dubious arguments of monopolies in its markets as congresspeople have, but rather finding ways to attack its relative monopsony on a certain kind of talent.