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Yeah and then he blames the community for being toxic. This is 100% self inflicted. Incredibly narrow focus at the most competitive companies to the point of spending inordinate time on leetcode and letting their actual work slip.

It does sound like he absorbed some of his toxicity from the community. It's definitely a self-inflicted wound, but it does sound as if he was handed a gun and had it pointed directly at his foot.

That won't be solved by fixing the community, which is an enormous boat that won't turn around any time soon. But it's hopefully a lesson to other people putting themselves in a similar position. The community also contains a lot of people pointing out the footgun.

>I'll just say it's better to be mediocre at something than to do nothing. A non-FAANG job/tech endeavor will still expose you to a lot of opportunities. You may not immediately be making what you want to make, but over 10 years there's a non-zero chance you'll luck into something bigger. A 20% chance of getting what you want is still better than a 0% chance. In the process you may find something you are actually exceptionally good at. It's much harder to find these things if you're not actively working on something.

This is the sort of thinking that keeps people in their place continuously participating in the rat race hoping that one day they'll make their break. For most people, it's much closer to delusional hope than a real path to success.

Sorry but could not comprehend this "but over 10 years there's a non-zero chance you'll luck into something bigger" Could you please explain little bit what do you mean? Thanks

Literally anything. Options turning out to be very valuable. Getting acquired by a company you really wanted to work for. Randomly getting promoted. Meeting someone who will get you that FAANG job via a backdoor. Meeting someone you'll go on to create a successful business with. Maybe even meeting someone who will teach you to be very good at these competitions.

Point is, if one completely drops out the chance of any of that happening is basically 0. If you stay involved in one way or another, it may happen.