You’re right, most techies did not save up, but some did. I had one particularly frugal friend who was able to live off his money for about 2-3 years while unemployed, and then for a couple more years while he took on lower-paying jobs and worked his way back up again. He’s had to live in four different states over the past ~5 years to get back up there, though.
Yes, you might think that 10X assets would let you retire, but when the Fed is destroying your purchasing power they way they are today, you’ll see how tenuous that feeling of security is. IMHO, this currency debasement is one of the most frightening aspects of our economy today.
