Therefore, I've been pondering a change of pace. The classic HN answer is of course "create/join a startup", but I've also been looking at areas more adjacent to scientific research.
One option that has come up is the US Department of Energy's national laboratory network[0]. From what I understand, the pay is 33-50% of FAANG, but they do seem to have interesting projects (e.g. the nuclear fusion facility that was recently in the news).
Has anyone here worked at one of them before? What is/was the day-to-day like?