I spent at least three months.
I live in a western European country, and my cheap neighborhood is full of unskilled migrants, and they came here without being crack-shots at leetcode, I know that much.
What makes you think only Google/Meta is the way?
Regardless, I hope you manage to come here.
FAANG for me is just a dream because of the salary. I don't think there is anywhere in continental Europe where you can make well over €100k per year other than google/meta.
Overall I think positively of the 7-8 rounds of interview + leetcode grind. If it was just because of resume or credentials, I'm not so sure someone with a darker skin tone and clearly foreign sounding name like me would even get a chance to interview. I think tech is very empowering for us, "smart" people from the minorities, at least it gives us hope of fairness and objectivity