How do you have time to interview?
There's a bunch of startups I'm interested in. There's probably 10+ I'd like to work with. I don't have time to interview with all of them. I could potentially make excuses at work for maybe... 3 interviews? They are spread out over the US so I'd probably need to travel for each of them. I'm thinking of quitting right now so I have time to examine all options. This will be my second job out of school so I feel like it will decide my dev career path. I'm a low-level, kernel, and systems programmer with two years experience at Microsoft. I went to a top school for EE and CS so I'm not that worried about finding a job if I quit Microsoft. Also, might as well say it. If anyone is looking for a young C++ systems programmer then hit me up. I'm looking at things like AR, computer vision, self driving cars, lidar startups, and avionics.
I’m in the same conundrum. You can take a short term leave of absence for like a month or two piled on top of your regular vacation and search. But you better make sure to leave after you get back because your year end review will probably be below average.
Phone screens should be easy to slot but if you actually get 10+ onsite offers then I suggest you also pick to interview at the ones you REALLY want. Then take a week or two off. Like Mutex said, people will notice the absence so you should be confident you can leave.
Find a job first at one of the company, take time before you start and interview for other 9.
You take vacation for 2 weeks and do all your interviews