not a programmer, but product manager. I feel your pain on startup #1.
The startups are a crapshoot, they can be a great stepping stone, but assume the equity is worth zero. The right 'big company' is going to be more lucrative in most cases by a lot.
AMP is the worst. I used to get rid of it by going through encrypted.google.com, but unfortunately that's been shut down and I haven't figured out how to use google and not use AMP. But I still want to.
I do find myself using Chrome on android less and less primarily because of AMP
The problem is that most people have no training in how exactly to interview someone. It's like asking people with no training in building rockets to get you to the Moon and then deciding that because because they failed tickets are "utterly useless".
The startups are a crapshoot, they can be a great stepping stone, but assume the equity is worth zero. The right 'big company' is going to be more lucrative in most cases by a lot.