u/Infinite-Fly-64

Hey fam, so recently i was laid off by one of the big O database company. I did not get many interview calls and joined one of the WITCH companies of india. Surprisingly , i am enjoying my time here. Yes the pay is low, but so is the stress, people here are not so competitive , there are no weekend on-calls , we have claude to build stuff and automate boring work. Client is a rich investment company who dnt give a damn about tech and so tech folks are chill. Life seems good.

Though i joined here just to cover my bills and get out as soon as i get a good offer from big tech but now i am reconsidering !! Is it worth joining big tech or FAANG? The layoffs, the work stress, the on calls, the competition ,is it all worth it , yes the pay is fantastic , but the stress i felt everyday in my stinct at big tech is not something i want again , no matter what the pay is .

I want to enjoy my work and life again, yeah i dont work for a good brand that adds to self esteem and validation from friends and family , but f that , who cares, just chill and enjoy your life, as long as it lasts.

EDIT: the reason i am enjoying here is because

1. Back to working with open source technologies - git, redis, docker , aws, etc, in big tech it was all proprietary tools . I am learning transferable skills here.
2. No stress of layoff (atleast for few years)

My background:
Python backend dev - Django Flask , distributed systems
Last salary - 27.5 fixed, 10lpa stocks
YOE: 9

Joined one of the WITCH companies after getting laid off from a product based company. Feeling like a loser now.

I got laid off from one of the tech giant product based companies(famous for its database) , applied every where possible and exhausted all my referals yet did not land an interview with any good company. I cracked multiple service based companies though, and finally in desperation joined one of the indian service based company .

I got a 10 percent hike on the fixed part only, so overall my compensation decreased .
Coming to the project and work - suprisingly it is not bad , infact better than my last company, team seems chill .

But i am always getting this feeling of being left behind my peers. Folks in development wit 5 years of experience are earning more than me .

Should i look for switch again after 6months ??? How to adjust to this fomo .