Should I terminate my E6 interview loop @ Meta?

Scenarios:

1. You bail on the loop, don’t know the outcome. Maybe there’s no cooldown, but certainly you won’t “jump the line” later. 1a) You love your new job, at worst you wonder if you would have cleared Meta but it’s just a what-if 1b) You don’t like your new job, you want to move on, you restart the Meta interview from scratch if you want to try again.

2. You follow through on the Meta interview, you get an offer, and you decline. 2a) You love your new job. You might have a touch of confidence now and in the future having cleared the Meta loop. 2b) You hate your new job, you want out, you can maybe skip some if not all of the process at Meta if you go back. Even if not you have more confidence interviewing there and elsewhere since you cleared the loop already.

3. You follow through on the Meta loop, you don’t get an offer. 3a) You love your new job, you’re glad the Meta outcome doesn’t affect your options much since you’re already somewhere you’re happy. 3b) You hate your new job, and you’ll have to wait for the cool-down period if you want to pursue Meta again.

All the a) options are better than all the b) options. 2a better than 1a better than 3a. 2b better than 1b better than 3b. Since you don’t know if a or b will be what happens, and you can’t be sure if you’ll clear the interview, it’s really a matter of how much you’d regret not knowing the outcome. The cost of completing a no/low stakes loop seems super low, and no pressure. Best case for you to perform well. If you have extreme rejection-sensitive dysphoria, maybe don’t risk the rejection. Otherwise, why not?

Thanks, appreciate all the varied feedback.

Personally I think I have a better chance of passing the Meta interview now than if I pull out and try again later, just because I'll be a bit rusty in my interviewing skills. It took me a while of interviewing after leaving my last company to get good enough at interviewing to get these other offers. I timed things reasonably well I think, as I chose from 5 different offers, but I didn't time things perfectly to get the Meta interview / offer at the same time as the others, in the future I could potentially do better, but I also think if I pass this interview loop then I might be able to time things better if there's another go-round within a year if the startup doesn't work out.

That said, looks like the Meta loop is getting extended quite a bit due to scheduling issues. It was supposed to complete this week, but they can't complete it this week, and I'm out next week, so that leaves the week before I join the new job to complete the interview. So if they extend the schedule out into my first week at the new job, I'll have to exit the loop anyway so I can focus on the new job.

I would just do the interview (assuming you're all the way at onsite already). The cooldown period is probably 6 months, especially for an E6 (E6s are extremely valuable). But even if it was 12 months, you'll probably be around at the crypto startup for 12+ months anyways given that you would go there even if you get the Meta offer (I assume that the team you're joining is extremely good and the company has good prospects).

There's pretty much 0 downside, and Meta E6s (at least in the US) get paid a massive amount of money. It's possible that Meta could win you over (never say never, especially with a company as prestigious as Meta).

If you get the Meta offer and it's compelling, check out the advice here on reneging/quitting early: "Team matches and accepting/reneging offer"

If you're very confident that you'll join the crypto startup, I'd recommend leaving the Meta E6 interview loop.

(Ideally, you could time the interviews/offers, so they arrive at the same time, since this gives you leverage: Get Other Offers)

Here's my logic to leave:

• Big Tech cos are almost always hiring for good Senior+ Engineers, given how rare they are. So I'm confident Meta will still be interested in interviewing you later.
• To put a finer point on the above: if you reject Meta, you actually become more attractive to the company. In recruiting, there are countless examples of people who kept saying no to a new opportunity until finally the company was able to hire them.
• There is a downside risk of failing the interview and then you're blocked from interviewing again for a year. In case you don't like the startup, this limits your optionality.

No self-respecting company will be upset if back out respectfully. Something like this:

I loved chatting with you and a few engineers. However, In order to ensure the best use of your time, I'd like to discontinue my interview loop.

I accepted an offer at a startup I'm really excited by, but I'd love to stay in touch for future opportunities. Meta is a great place to work, and I'd love to contribute later on.