Not everyone lives from hand to mouth and need a job ASAP. Additionally, most people I know in (US) big tech do not take adequate time off from work - it appears the unspoken rule is to take substantive breaks between jobs, rather than annually like they do in Europe.

I've found this to be true, looking at the course of my own career. Just told a German tourist over breakfast that some US workers get as little as two weeks' vacation when starting a job. You should have seen his reaction— his eyes bugged out and he almost choked on his eggs and sausage.

It's an estimate based on both the average severances coupled with how long it takes to work through the Blind 100 LC grind with a bit of reset time thrown in. If you're in a position where you can handle 2 LC-hard questions in about an hour with near perfect execution, good for you! But most folks need to prepare for that.