I "failed" my first four (edit: onsite) FANG interviews. 5th time was a charm, have been happily employed with a senior title at FANG for a couple years.
Not exactly new information to HN, but the job itself is quite a bit easier than the interviews (wrt to technical knowledge). It can be just as stressful though (I actually think stress response / teamwork is one of the main things FANG interviewers are looking for after a certain bar of technical competence is met, YMMV).
This isn't for everyone, but if it's something you really want to do, don't let the rejections get you down. You'll get in eventually :)
> you can theoretically interview at each of the letters in FAANG every year
One of those letters will let you interview many times in a single year ;) (but not for the same role on the same team)
If I had any final advice for those intent on going through the interview meat grinder it is that while l33tcode can be useful, you'll still want to understand some of the why behind popular algorithms and not just have a ton of specific ones memorized. This will save you when you have to talk through a problem you're not already familiar with.
Skiena's The Algorithm Design Manual was more helpful to me than any other prep material in that regard.
I know you can interview at multiple roles at FB provided 1.) you pass the initial phone screen and 2.) the onsite loop is different - say, frontend vs. product/backend. Doesn't work for me this year since I likely failed the phonescreen...
I've heard in theory you can apply to multiple jobs at N too.
The second time they were locking down a time I could fly somewhere and the whole thing went poof. Fortunately I was in a good job and it was no big deal, but it would have been very stressful if I was between gigs.