Yeah it's a huge time sink. The Amazon interview was in Santa Monica even though recruiter informed me I was interviewing for a position in NYC. It's hard to find time to prep with kids at home also.
The real dagger for me is that our company lost two of our worst performers to FAANG companies. I was mentoring both and some of their code would qualify for r/codinghorror.
I've been accepted to most of the positions I've applied mainly because I avoided FAANG companies for fear of rejection. I was getting regular emails from their recruiters but just kept deleting them.
One day I just decided to reply to the Google recruiter. I stupidly set up the interview ASAP at a time when I was out of the country with no computer or internet. So I went into the interview with zero prep. It was a disaster.
That experience made me once again ignore FAANG recruiters for a while until I was pressured by a friend to apply at Amazon. I crammed hard for that. I thought I aced all the on site interviews with optimal solutions and stupidly told my folks that I likely got the job (bad idea!). I didn't.
Finally took a stab at some tier 2 companies in NYC and was rejected by all. Some were really close others were just bad timing (WeWork during IPO fiasco).
I'm still chugging along working at some company with no name recognition. Yeah it sucks that all my peers work at FAANG and don't understand why I'm not trying to work at a more prominent company. Honestly it worked out better. I have a minimal commute, a decent home in an area with great schools, comp comparable to FAANG, and finally my work has a much greater impact at my company.
The real dagger for me is that our company lost two of our worst performers to FAANG companies. I was mentoring both and some of their code would qualify for r/codinghorror.