That's been the experience for me. I have built a portfolio of side projects less related to my job, and have been through the interview process with Amazon. An

That's been the experience for me. I have built a portfolio of side projects less related to my job, and have been through the interview process with Amazon. And I've mainly worked for small web shops who build websites for local businesses that don't care about scaling massively. You really have to be on top of the algorithms knowledge. First time I was tested on HackerRank where the problems were usually a twist on familiar puzzles. The only big gripe I have is that if you don't pass the interview the company will probably have a required "cooldown period" lasting a few months before you can apply again. This is frustrating when the solution to a problem you failed hits you in the face a couple days later, but you gotta wait several months before you can have a go at interviewing again.