Comment by screcth
FAANG pays very well, and money can be exchanged for goods and services.
I know that having benefits like a free bike feels good, but the total compensation you are getting is much lower than that of people that work for big tech and pay for their own transportation.
Well I don't have to pay for any transporation, 'cause my employer can't decide on a dime to force me into the cage 5 times a week ;) I also only live a 15 minute bike ride away, rather than a 2 hour car ride as seems to be the case for many people in the US.
But even ignoring all that, money isn't the be-all, end-all. Having worked in the US for a stint, I'll take my "low" pay in the Netherlands any day of the week over rotting away in a soulless US megacorp headed by legitimate psychopaths, where they can decide to fuck you over at a moment's notice for any reason and you have no recourse.
After all, what good is money that you can't spend? If you gave me a trillion dollars but it meant I had to spend 12 hours of my day dedicated to work, what use is that? I'll take my sane working culture I have at the moment despite me earning marginally less (if you ignore literally all the other benefits of living in the Netherlands, that is) all day, every day.