LEETCODE IS MID AT BEST

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[romevang]

During my undergrad (Computer Science) when I took Algorithms and Data structures the instructors and TA's all emphasized the importance of that course, especially during job interviews. They reminded us to keep our assignments as something to come back and practice on and expand for interviews. At that time it didn't sink in completely but now understanding the interview process for any software engineering job, its spot on advice.

[_b]

Build projects so that the HR glances over it and rejects your resume cause I have only 1 year experience in angular instead of 2. Hiring is hard in any fields but it's straight up broken in tech, I feel like most people got their jobs because they were present in the right place at the right time, yes skill matters but again being at the right place at the right time matters even more.

[prdx]

Having done a bunch of interviews recently, I'm lucky if the interviewer has even glanced at my resume, let alone at my github. Leetcode is weighed much higher than any public github repos, at least in my anecdotal experience. I'm not convinced most employers even care about repos on your github, despite it corresponding much more closely with your work output than any artificial algorithm question.

[funguy]

well the interview process made it so that if you can't do the leetcode questions u can't make it to the next stage. It's not like people want to only study that, thats what employers ask.

[pokefreak]

I started doing leetcode about a month ago, it's pretty good for memorizing the standard library and common algorithms imo. I find myself relying less on the language server now because leetcode has conditioned me to write code that compiles/works first try.
It's also nice for practicing specific skills like bit manipulation when you don't have project ideas involving that skill.

Definitely agree that a project is better for employability/learning "real programming" though

[spitefol]

me after being stuck on leetcode easy problem

[HarshPatel-kudb]

You need projects AND ability to solve difficult interview questions. You should never ignore either. Sure leetcode might not be all that but we can't ignore the reality that most large tech companies use DSA questions to filter candidates. Projects get you the interview, practicing leetcode can help you pass the interview.

[princeofyahudah]

Bruh I interviewed at Airbnb once and they asked me a convex hull question 😭💀

[John-powz]

In a perfect world yes but in reality GRIND THE FUCK OUT OF LEET CODE. My last 4 interviews were literally word for word Leet Code Hard problems lmao, i know they were because they were on my list of problems to work through but I underestimated the stupidity of these interviews and did not think they'd actually have the audacity to ask that in a 45min interview. Spotify was the funniest one because although i had a working solution, it wasn't the most optimal one and when i asked interviewer out of curiosity what the solution was, she couldn't answer coherently either lmao. The face the guy made who was shadowing her as she tried to work through it was priceless. didn't get the job, they pulled the position when their stock crashed lol.

[khps]

In the HPC field (supercomputers) we also prioritize peoples understanding of data types and algorithms. A raising issue for us is actually "leetcoders" as they often deem themself more skillfull than what they actually are. Where i work for example all of us can make operative systems from scratch as solo projects and some workers use this systems as their daily drivers. The issue with leetcode (while it does have uses) is that it does not give you the ability to see the inner workings of a system from above. Whatever "string" you pull most people are condemed to halt or crash the system. However if you can follow the flow of data, you can make changes very easily without error as the data flow is an absolute truth.

[KarlOlofsson]

Code challenges in general are very small scale I think. Actual tasks at a job are usually stuff that you take a couple of days to a week to finish, and that's when you are up n running and know the systems pretty well. Home assignments for technical interviews that are customized to the client is usually a little more representative, but as Prime points out just build stuff that works and solves a real world problem (even if you are the only user). That's worth 10x any generalized test.

[torvic]

A. You are extremely lucky and the company skips algo + system-design and they rather see your open source, get hired.
B. You are unlucky and have to do stupid algo + system-design + garbage, then get hired.

90% of the times is B.

[sharoncohen]

The issue is that those "annoying overly-complex" problems are EXACTLY what a lot of companies ask in their interviews.

Of course doing projects is way more educational and better for your career than just leetcoding...
But if you find yourself in a hard interview, those 900 leetcode problems suddenly matter a lot more than the projects that no one cares about at that moment.

[georgehelyar]

At my work we don't even do these. It's just a waste of interview time. Interviews should be a conversation. We talk about the candidate's past projects, decisions that were made, problems that had to be overcome and what it's like to work here.

That said we do have a basic coding test before the interview that's pretty much fizz buzz just to avoid wasting time on the 90% of applicants that say they have 20 years experience but somehow can't write hello world.

[QCAlpha-]

I literally had a technical interview just a hour ago and will agree here but will add :
You should know where and when to use certain data structs

I dont think I did too well but I know that I would have done better if I knew the what, when and why of my data structs.
Learn them well.

[tokiomutex]

Earth would be a better place without leetcode.

[tah]

I get your point. "If you want to be an author, then write...".
If you want to be a software dev, then dev some really soft wares.

BUT I also see a bunch of people that write really bad code, can only do super simple stuff and lack problem solving skills.
I've mostly done CodeWars, and not Leetcode. But my experience is that it makes me a way better developer, because I get good at problem solving.
Some projects, like writing my first text editor, was much easier, due to my experience doing CodeWars "katas".

[Gornius]

People who have little to no idea about programming think that the language is the most important skill to have as a programmer, while the truth is that understanding technologies and their ecosystems is the most important knowledge a programmer can have.

Good for you if you can solve the hardest coding problems using the newest language features, but this is not even 5% of what you will do as a software engineer and if you don´t know how to make your code interact with rest of the system, your knowledge is basically useless.

[FBHI]

The worst part about programming jobs is that there are no rules, some companies prefer employees that are masters in data structures, some other still uses leetcode/hackerrank tests, some others clicks on your github link, some others doesn't give a shit about it, and you as a developer has to have time to do EVERYTHING as you don't know which the company will ask on an interview....

[ossemadaoud]

i am first year cs student, and i 'm starting the grind 75 problems, its a challenge for me to complete these challenges during this summer but i find its fun, i figured out as a first year cs student its worth investing all my time on it because it gives me a good understanding of why data structure and algorithmes are made, and i can understand better why we should learn data structure and use these concepts, ofc doing 1000 problems is much but maybe ill keep practicing these challenges weekly since i found it is fun to solve