Can you change the corporate culture of the companies that pay top of market any more than you can change gravity?

Sure I could change the culture by accepting a bullshit CTO position that is a glorified developer at a YC like startup that pays less than the intern I mentored when they got their return offer at BigTech and I could get meaningless “equity”.

But if I were in a position where I wanted to maximize my comp, I would play the game and convince a company with a lot of money to give me some of that money.

I just happen to care more about work life balance and making “enough” money now.