Anybody who writes code should be earning north of 500k at least either through salary and stocks or a business. Anything less than that and you're better off being a HVAC guy.
Interestingly, I once met a plumber who used to be an engineer. He said he is much happier. So the HVAC thing could be true, but the Bay Area doesn't need this many HVAC guys...
Opportunities to change that outside of FAANG are few and far between, but sure, I guess I have chosen a pointless path in life, I'll go abandon my ability to work 100% remote from anywhere in the US and go be an HVAC guy instead. Seems legit.