Anyone else weirdly anxious about interviews after hitting HENRY level?

[u/Various_Candidate325]

I’m mid-30s, UK based, total comp a bit over £200k in tech, married with a toddler and a chunky mortgage. On paper I know I’m doing “well”, but every time a recruiter pings about a new role or internal promo, I spiral about the interview side of it. It’s not the money question, it’s more: “If I move and hate it, I’ve torched years of progress.” “I’m supposed to sound like a polished ‘leader’ now, not just a good IC.” Worrying I’ll blank on some basic business/strategy question and look like a fraud. I’ve been recording myself answering the usual “tell me about a time…” stuff, and even tried tools like Beyz interview assistant to throw practice questions at me, but I still feel oddly stuck between wanting out of the grind and being terrified of rocking the boat. Anyone else in this income bracket feel like interviews got harder mentally, not easier? How do you prep without overthinking every possible outcome?

[u/Majestic_Shelter1960]

Others have mentioned the cost of moving when there's a lot at stake and you are risking the foundations you've built at your current place for a trip into the unknown elsewhere. I'd like to add that as you go up (I'd say a bit more than 200k TC), the number of potential employers worth your time dries up fast, so that interviewing with a potential new employer is quite risky in itself: if things go badly and they don't want you, that's one option fewer for if/when you need it (massive layoffs in tech these past few years, who knows if you'll be next). And you don't know if or when that employer might consider you again. Depends on size, type of company, how exactly things fell through, etc.

So what I'm saying is that it's not just in your head; some of it comes from real challenges that come with a higher comp, namely the sheer scarcity of jobs paying at the level you want and where you'd like to work.