Yeah basically this. It’s not that “everyone is doing it” - it’s companies all got bullish in the pandemic, hired a ton of people and now the revenue isn’t there as the world continues to have rock bottom consumer confidence due to a destabilizing war, supply chain chaos, freight costs, political instability and inflation. It bleeds into every industry.

This is primarily a FAANG thing because I’ve worked in the Bay Area for 10 years now in CA in Design - even in director and now executive roles I still don’t make $400k and when I do - it comes from company perf. bonuses( which are not happening these days) and at the height of nonsense in SF - most senior design jobs were closer to $160 to $180k. Not to say that it isn’t a ton of money BUT I have only seen these insane $200k+Equity salaries and comp packages at FAANG companies - the grand majority of tech companies are not paying people like that…