so which company is the new faang among developers? you know, the one where there is a good WLB, nice pay , 5-7 hr work/day and other benefits , but with a high entry barrier?

I am thinking of starting to revise DS/Algo for some interview prep

Was there ever a company like that or was it just really high expectations with really high compensation, vastly exaggerated by hearsay and legend?

To me - the FAANG definition - requires a huuuge company.

If you’re just looking for WLB, benefits, and high barrier - but you don’t care about the fame or size of the company:
I think there are plenty of smaller companies - a lot of consultant firms.

When I worked for a large dev consultant firm that declined I saw a lot of the best and most experienced people leave to join smaller firms where the 3 values you mention were part of their core values

But these were the opposite of FAANG; their selling point was like ”We only have 30 employees but they are excellent”

The unicorn era is over. After NFT dust settled, VCs aren't throwing money around like they used to. FAANG saw massive layoffs. So if you have a company in mind, do share!