Not everybody has to compromise on salary but I took a significant pay-cut to be where I am now, and took the decision based on work-life balance, meaningful (non-commercial) work and interesting tech with great training and flexible tech path choices (which ironically give me very sellable skills should I choose to leave).

Best career decision I ever made.

Don't let the cliched-career ladder advice generally offered in life (I don't mean here) blinker or constrain you.