I've heard stories that people just bypass this all the time at earlier stage tech-startups and this eliminates a 6 month interview process of like 8 rounds of interviews and usually you can close within a month or right way.

Google let me skip their phone screen every time I interviewed with them: I had neither referrals nor leverage during each attempt.

Can folks skip interviews with recruiters and go directly to the hiring manager on a team where their friend works at FAANGMULA?

I've seen people go straight to onsite for FAANG-level companies before, but it's pretty rare. I imagine it will be even rarer in this economy. Regardless, I think you should still try, especially if it's a close friend who can deeply vouch for your ability and has a good relationship with their hiring manager.

Here are the reasons I've seen people jump straight to onsite:

Leverage - They have competing offers at other top companies and use that to pressure the hiring manager to leapfrog them to the final round.
They're an exceptional candidate - To the point that the company is confident that they don't need a bunch of screener rounds.

I've been fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of the 2nd one. I've gotten direct onsite offers for companies like Uber and Block because of my side projects. However, I have multiple Android side projects with 500,000+ users, so this isn't something most engineers are able to replicate.

Can folks skip interviews with recruiters and go directly to the hiring manager on a team where their friend works at FAANGMULA?

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