bruh I spent the past two years living throughout the Americas, visiting national parks, living in new cities and countries, all while slacking off and making 200k+ a year. It felt fucking amazing.
I spent the last 2 years still enjoying myself (hobbies, meeting up with friends when I could, traveling occasionally although maybe not as much as you, etc) and now I'm making 400k+ a year with 3 years of experience. You don't have to slack off to enjoy non-work time and it feels like doing that's just going to hurt you in the long run. I also might be speaking out of my ass so maybe someone with more experience can come correct me.
200k+ is an awful lot of money when you're not shackled to the Bay Area (or even America). Why should I bother making more? My implied hourly rate is insane.
Working at a FANG or FANG adjacent company on a good team and getting a few lucky promotions. My stock hasn't appreciated much but another way people get their is by being lucky with stock appreciation even if they don't experience much career growth.
