FAANG employees & Fed employees took a very different trade though.
FAANG - You can have sky high compensation with moderate job security and roll-your-own (401K+savings) retirement. Note you mention 40-50% taxes which would imply you are in the sky high compensation bucket. You can also job shop and switch to any of a dozen competitors doing similar stuff.
Fed - You can have moderate compensation with sky high job security and good retirement benefits. Some of these jobs cap out at what FANG pays new grads in cash comp. You can't go work for a competing government like China or Russia, legally.
FAANG - You can have sky high compensation with moderate job security and roll-your-own (401K+savings) retirement. Note you mention 40-50% taxes which would imply you are in the sky high compensation bucket. You can also job shop and switch to any of a dozen competitors doing similar stuff.
Fed - You can have moderate compensation with sky high job security and good retirement benefits. Some of these jobs cap out at what FANG pays new grads in cash comp. You can't go work for a competing government like China or Russia, legally.