The Great Resignation: Why Leaving FAANG Might Be Your Best Career Move

Outcome first: you can leave a FAANG job without sacrificing financial security, while gaining more autonomy, faster growth, and meaningful impact - if you plan the move carefully.

Why this matters now

You’ve seen the headlines. People are quitting. Some are burned out. Others want something different. What looks like chaos is actually opportunity. Walk away from a massive org, and you might find faster promotions, broader responsibility, and equity that compounds. It’s not easy. But it can be the best career decision you ever make.

The forces driving the exodus from FAANG

Burnout and chronic overload. Long hours, endless meetings, and product cycles that never end push many engineers and managers to the edge. Research shows burnout is a major contributor to resignations [Harvard Business Review].
Lack of visible impact. At scale, your code or idea may touch millions - and yet feel invisible because work is narrowly scoped and ownership is fragmented.
Bureaucracy and politics. Processes slow you down. Decision-making is distributed across many stakeholders. That kills momentum and joy.
Lifestyle and location changes. The pandemic rewired priorities. Remote-first work has opened up alternatives that balance family, health, and location.
Equity and upside expectations. At a small company, a meaningful equity grant can translate to more upside than a refresh at a giant tech firm.

Sources: HBR - The Great Resignation Is Real, New York Times - Why Are So Many People Quitting Their Jobs?, McKinsey - The Great Attrition

What smaller tech companies can give you that FAANG often doesn’t

Bigger ownership and clearer impact. You ship features end-to-end. You see product outcomes and customer reactions.
Fast learning and broader skill development. You touch backend, infra, product, and ops. Your résumé becomes richer, faster.
Faster promotions and visibility. Fewer rungs on the ladder and fewer layers above you mean your contributions are noticed.
Equity with upside. Early-stage equity may be risky - yes - but it offers a path to outsized financial outcomes.
Better work-life fit (often). Startups vary, but many early-stage teams prize rapid iteration and trust, which can reduce meeting overhead and provide scheduling flexibility.
Less red tape. Decision loops are shorter. You can prototype and fail faster.

Link: For compensation and leveling comparisons, see Levels.fyi.

The trade-offs - be honest with yourself

Leaving is not a free lunch.

Risk: Smaller companies have more failure risk. Equity may end up worth nothing.
Short-term comp: Cash compensation can be lower than FAANG base + bonus packages. Benefits may be less generous.
Workload variability: Early-stage startups sometimes expect extreme intensity during crunches.
Stability: Layoffs and pivots are more common in smaller firms.

Decision-making is about risk tolerance, runway, and what you value right now.

How to evaluate a smaller-company opportunity (practical checklist)

Financial runway and burn rate: How many months of runway does the company have? Are they fundraising soon?
Cap table and option pool: What percent of the company will your grant represent after dilution? Ask for a cap table preview.
Valuation and exit scenarios: What are realistic outcomes? Find prior funding rounds and investors.
Role clarity and scope: What will you deliver in 6, 12, 24 months? Who are your direct stakeholders?
Leadership: Who are the founders? What is their track record? Speak to former colleagues if possible.
Comp mix: Base, bonus, equity, refresh cadence, and benefits. Build a 3-year total comp model.
Culture and rhythm: How do they run meetings? How do they handle on-call? Ask about recent crises and responses.
Customer traction and product-market fit: Revenue, growth rate, churn, and key customers.
Legal terms: Vesting schedule, cliffs, acceleration on acquisition, and tax treatment of options.

For guidance on equity terms and valuation reference, see Carta - Equity 101.

Simple way to compare a FAANG offer vs. a startup offer

Create a 3-year Total Compensation (TC) model. Include:

Base salary (annual)
Expected bonuses and RSU/refresh schedule (for FAANG)
Startup option grant valued at current valuation and a plausible growth multiple (easy method: conservative, base, and optimistic scenarios)
Expected cash runway and personal savings buffer

Example (conceptual):

FAANG: $200k base + $80k/yr average RSU realized (vested amount) = $280k TC/year
Startup: $150k base + $40k bonus + options currently worth $50k at valuation but with potential 10x upside if company succeeds

If you value stability and current cash now, FAANG wins. If you value potential upside, impact, and rapid career growth - and you have runway - the startup could be better.

Use Levels.fyi to benchmark FAANG packages: Levels.fyi.

Negotiation tips when you interview with smaller companies

Ask for a cap table and the latest valuation. Don’t accept vague answers.
Negotiate for a larger equity percentage rather than tiny grants. Equity is where smaller firms differentiate.
Request acceleration (single-trigger or double-trigger) for key events (acquisition or termination).
Get a reasonable base salary. Don’t overtrade cash for equity if you don’t have the savings to weather risk.
Clarify refresh cadence and promotion paths.

When you probably should not leave FAANG (yet)

You have zero emergency savings. Don’t expose yourself to high risk without a financial cushion.
You’re in the middle of a major stock cliff or RSU vesting that materially changes your net worth soon.
You need specific large-company experience on your résumé for your long-term goals (e.g., specific industry reputation or deep-scale engineering work).
You don’t want the volatility or the emotional load of early-stage ambiguity.

Red flags in small-company offers

Founders refuse to share cap table or burn rate.
Vague product roadmap or zero measurable KPIs.
High churn among employees in the last 12 months.
Excessive optimism about timelines with no clear customer traction.
Hostile or opaque interview process. Good culture is visible in alignment and candor.

A practical 8-step roadmap to leave FAANG responsibly

Diagnose your motivation: Burnout? Growth? Money? Location? Make it explicit.
Build 6–12 months of runway in savings (or more if you have dependents).
Update your résumé and portfolio. Emphasize impact and breadth of systems.
Network quietly: talk to ex-colleagues, investors, and two people at target companies before applying.
Screen for team, traction, and cap table before taking onsite interviews.
Run offers through your TC model. Negotiate for clarity on equity and vesting.
Plan transition timing around RSU cliffs or major milestones, if that matters.
Exit gracefully: share a professional notice and help knowledge transfer. Doors are relationships.

Mental health, identity, and culture: more than numbers

Money and title aren’t the only variables. Your daily sense of meaning matters. Many who leave FAANG report better mental health, deeper relationships with coworkers, and more ownership joy. But smaller companies can also be emotionally intense. Consider therapy, a coach, or peer groups while you transition.

For perspective on burnout and how to recognize it, see HBR on burnout.

Stories (anonymized patterns you’ll hear)

The Engineer Who Reclaimed Time: Left a senior IC role to join a mid-stage startup. Same comp in three years, but now leads product design and rarely does the bureaucracy-heavy meetings he once did.
The Manager Who Hit the Ceiling: Stayed at FAANG and waited 4+ years for a promotion she needed. She left and got promoted in under a year at a smaller company because there were fewer competitors and a clearer impact path.

These aren’t unique. They’re patterns repeating across the industry.

Final framework: Aligning choice to outcomes

Ask yourself three questions, and be ruthlessly honest:

What do I want in 12 months? (Skill, role, income, life)
What outcome matters most in 3–5 years? (Security, upside, autonomy, learning)
What is my runway - financially and emotionally - to take risk?

If your answers point to rapid learning, meaningful ownership, and you have some financial cushion, leaving FAANG can be the smartest career move you make. If you value stability and predictable comp, staying makes sense.

Make the move intentionally. Don’t flee; migrate.