My strategy is simple: I do interview practice by simply interviewing with companies that I am not really interested in joining. That allows me to practice not only the technical interview but also all other steps involved.
Last time I interviewed, I did 7 of these interviews, targeting: startups, pre-ipo, mid public companies, 2 of the FAANG I would never work for ...
I did that while prepping for interviewing at the companies I was really interested in working for. And eventually it all worked out and got a few offers, of which two from FAANG of which one from one of the two FAANG I really wanted to join.
Simple but really time consuming. Experienced engineers with responsibilities outside of work don't have time for that nonsense. It's hard enough to do ONE interview, let alone do tons of fake interviews in preparation. No other industry is like this - once you've proven yourself as an experienced professional/exec, if you want to swap to another company, you just have a chat.
"I don't think I am ever gonna job hunting again."
That's what I thought about the job I came to SF for 20 years ago. Then 6 years in they got bought out and I got laid off. They weren't even a tech company. My career has been somewhat downhill ever since. Best of luck to you.
I think the value is mainly in the feedback you get which can help if you have a specific problem you might not be aware of. The problem with just going out on interviews is that you never get any real feedback so you are left to your own analysis as to why a certain interview didn't result in getting to the next step or an offer which, in my experience, is kind of like trying to find a needle in a haystack in a dark barn without a flashlight.
Suffice to say I'd never join Meta. I don't use their platform, I don't like what they do, and most important I don't like their tech bro company culture.
