I've been programming professionally for 12+ years. I haven't had a need to look at CLRS since I took my graduate (!!!) algorithms course in college.
I don't work in FAANG, but I am a senior developer in another industry. It would take me way more than two and a half weeks to work through all of the problem sets in CLRS; two and a half weeks is more for someone who is a year or two out of college. I don't think being able to work through the problems in that book is indicative of a senior developer either...
Anyway, this is why I'll probably end up never changing industries. The barrier to entry is (too) high; especially for those of us who already make comparable money.
I don't think many people who got a job at these companies used CLRS to prepare for the interviews. At least not the ones I know. There's a reason leetcode is so popular. In my own experience you really need to know how to solve the typical easy/medium questions quickly, interviewers themselves don't really want to ask hard questions. The infamous CTCI covers them, EPI is better from what I've heard.
I don't work in FAANG, but I am a senior developer in another industry. It would take me way more than two and a half weeks to work through all of the problem sets in CLRS; two and a half weeks is more for someone who is a year or two out of college. I don't think being able to work through the problems in that book is indicative of a senior developer either...
Anyway, this is why I'll probably end up never changing industries. The barrier to entry is (too) high; especially for those of us who already make comparable money.