30 might be too much but it also depends somewhat on the probability of success. 100 hrs practicing leetcode + systems design for a 2% chance at a FAANG seems a worse trade off than 30hrs researching an interesting subject for a presentation with an 80% chance of success. Problem is you don’t know what your chances are with the latter going in but I think it would be a fair question to ask.
I lean towards the status quo of one day interviews. But I liked how you considered probably of success as a consideration.
Consider also that: 1-((1-.7)*3) = .97
3 interviews with a 70% chance give you a 97% chance of landing atleast one job. More interviews improve your situation rapidly. Job hunting is better seen as a campaign than individual battles.
But I also think maybe in my estimation you FAANG chances aren't that low as your 2%. They hire tons of people, ALL THE TIME.
I got the 2% from a presentation by a company in the business of prepping people for FAANG interviews, the actual number could be higher but I was just trying to make a point about relative probabilities.
Ahhh, I believe that 2% of people apply might get the job possibly. To me that's a question of a challenging applicant pool.
What do you think your chances are if you're actually qualified? My made up gut numbers: At least 70% even if you don't practice leetcode. That's the real question here in my mind, what are an otherwise qualified candidates chances? How much does that change with interview skills, prep, leetcode etc.
I’ve made it to both Google and Facebook onsights. I still have no clue what my chances were going in but got rejected both times. If you get through leetcode then you can get an onsight but that’s when they actually attempt to measure competency with a system design interview. Which is fine but I’d rather they just front load the interview with it than my chances of getting to an on-site be left up to whether I happen to suss out the aha solution to any random leetcode problem (while I’m trying to explain my thought process of course).
It might be 2% or even lower hire-rate-to-applications, but your set isn't all applications but those who put in a 100 hours of leetcode prep; that I bet is much higher than 2% into faangs.