How common is this? Even breaking £150k seems really challenging - FAANGs aren't hiring in London right now, finance seems to require previous finance experience and/or prestigious education even for experienced candidates (I don't know if they really require it or just like to put it in their job ads); and even companies that pay less (£90-120k) aren't giving me the time of day.

I'm making more than that in London. I know similarly qualified people in Bristol who make literally a fifth of my salary yet for some reason do not want to move to London.

That's what startups are for, at least in the USA people hop from job to job to build a reputation.

I call that "trampoline". Jobs that are meant to be temporary to jump to the real interest.

The trampoline a year ago was crypto startups. Ponzi, probably.

Try contracting? I first hit six figures in London as a test engineer with 6 years experience and no degree

pretty common

as someone who's been a hiring manager for software engineers in finance: your problem is likely getting past the initial HR filter

they sadly care about all the things you listed

Initial HR filter is to weed out the DDOS of a million CVs on a job ad... Look for a backdoor. Friends, neighbors, Meetup, colleagues, online forums such as Twitter or Discord.

It's not just FAANGs that are offering TC that high in London. Have a look at levels.fyi if you want to see some numbers. Possibly not as prevalent nowadays unfortunately.

I know, that’s why I mentioned the other companies that won’t interview me either.

That'd be nice.