I see this sentiment (that if someone can get a FANG job then they can get a startup job easily) on here all the time, and it is a belief that needs to die.

When I took an offer at Google I had literally been searching for months and had no other offers.

Years later, after a couple years career break I had been searching for months and could hardly get startups to talk to me, but X and Meta seemed very interested (I was not interested in them).

I know it sounds intuitive that if someone can land a gig at one of the large companies then they can easily get a job at someplace that's doing "good work" but this is often not the case.

I read so many responses (the replies here to this post and to so many other similar posts) of the form

"Oh, I simply refuse to do interviews [of format xyz]. It's just not worth my time..."

I feel like such a worthless piece of crap when I read these. I apply to hundreds of places, and when someone comes along that even wants to talk to me or a miracle happens and I get to any sort of technical round, I simply DON'T HAVE THE OPTION to be turning them away for any reason.

Like, these companies have all the leverage right now, and lots of us have none. Responses like "just tell them no" seem so tone deaf. I guess some of you must be seriously baller, but it seems otherworldly to me.

This is close to how I feel when I read posts on Linkedin "demanding" that companies dispense with some unethical hiring practice (e.g. keeping up job postings for which they are not hiring, rejecting candidates without feedback, endless interview rounds, etc). I'm like, "Dude! The people who are doing this do not give a rat's ass about your preachy Linkedin post. We have no leverage here. Spare me your clickbait."

End of rant.

The people who are saying "just refuse" are humblebragging that they can afford to do so.