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It's been 3 years since I graduated and started working as a full-time software engineer, but I still struggle with leetcode problems. Even easy ones. My day to

by csnewb 8y ago

It's been 3 years since I graduated and started working as a full-time software engineer, but I still struggle with leetcode problems. Even easy ones. My day to day work involves gluing together API's and not writing algorithmic code to solve tricky puzzles. Don't think that just because you can't solve leetcode problems you're not meant to be an engineer. And trust me, I feel your pain. I haven't written a binary search tree from scratch in years, so reading through my algorithms book right now is a struggle. I'm also actively interviewing for jobs and it's really frustrating to work 40-50 hours at work then come home and put in another 20-30 hours of leetcoding for interviews. It's really really tough. I'm ready to be downvoted for this, but if you can't solve a problem in 15-20 minutes, just look at the solution, understand it, and memorize it. The more problems you work on the better your pattern recognition will get, and it'll be easier to solve related problems. Unless you're a genius programmer, I seriously doubt most normal people can easily and flawlessly answer these stupid questions within 15 minutes in an interview setting. Also keep in mind that the vast majority of interviewers will tell you that they're looking for a good thought process as opposed to the correct solution, but they're 100% full of shit so don't believe what they say. There are hundreds of engineers who have already memorized 300+ leetcode problems and WILL write correct and bug-free code in an interview setting, and they will get the job no matter how good your "thought process" is. However, there are SOME companies that care about thought process, and those are the ones you have to look for. Unfortunately I haven't found out how to determine which companies actually do that, but typically they're start-ups. This only applies if you're in the Bay Area, however. I can't comment on what it's like outside of California. I feel like nobody in the thread truly read your original post. You asked for alternative career options because you can't solve leetcode problems and that's absolutely ridiculous. You can absolutely get hired as a software engineer, you just have to play the game. Keep leetcoding and you'll eventually crack an interview. It's just a numbers game. Good luck!

fibonachos 8y ago
Your post came at a good time for me. I've been working as a programmer / engineer for the better part of two decades now. I'm self-taught, have plenty of code in production at several (small/medium) companies doing millions a year in business. I have recently started interviewing again, and it's exactly as you state it: 40-50 hours a week working, and another 20 or so on Leetcode. It's exhausting to put in all this work knowing that much of it is unlikely to be needed outside of the interview setting. A couple of the recruiters have even said as much (Literally that the interview prep material is unrelated to the day to day work for the position). Glad to see I'm not alone in this.
jogjayr 8y ago
Strongly agree with most of your points. It's a MASSIVE pain in the posterior to be job-hunting. You effectively take on a second part-time job doing interview-prep and everything else in your life gets put on hold - vacations, weekends, quiet evenings with your SO. Woe betide those who have a kid during the process - you might as well stop job-hunting until you're able to get more than 5 hours of sleep every night. I don't advocate memorizing solutions because I don't think it sticks. I prefer to look at the solution and implement the algorithm myself. Pattern recognition is key though. And I too believe that most interviewers who say they're looking for "thought process" are full of shit. Partly because the question always seems easier to the interviewer and than the interviewee. But mostly because all the candidates who did grind through hundreds or thousands of leetcode, hackerrank, careercup and/or topcoder problems have skewed what normal interview performance looks like.
Tmp1234 8y ago
My view has been they are looking for people with high IQs exclusively. Whiteboard interviews cut out people who are not even intelligent enough to memorize solutions and algorithms while also accepting people smart enough to come up with solutions to tough problems they haven't seen before. It seems given how much I struggle I may not even fit in the memorize 300+ leetcode category. I'm very interested in this divide between people who are for white board interviews and against it and how it correlates with job performance and content. I may make a separate post about it because I'd like to get to the bottom of it.
- byebyetech 8y ago
  >> high IQs exclusively I agree and I think its illegal to do so. Its a form of discrimination so they have disguised it as a "coding challenge".
byebyetech 8y ago
>> vast majority of interviewers will tell you that they're looking for a good thought process as opposed to the correct solution, but they're 100% full of shit so don't believe what they say. I am actively interviewing right now. Also interviewed at FANG companies. This is absolutely 100% correct. Those people don't give shit about thought process as much as they do about correct bug free solution under 15 minutes. If you take even JUST 2 MINUTES to think they start looking at you suspiciously and reject you in their mind. This is really a fucked up situation.

by csnewb 8y ago

fibonachos 8y ago

Your post came at a good time for me. I've been working as a programmer / engineer for the better part of two decades now. I'm self-taught, have plenty of code in production at several (small/medium) companies doing millions a year in business. I have recently started interviewing again, and it's exactly as you state it: 40-50 hours a week working, and another 20 or so on Leetcode. It's exhausting to put in all this work knowing that much of it is unlikely to be needed outside of the interview setting. A couple of the recruiters have even said as much (Literally that the interview prep material is unrelated to the day to day work for the position). Glad to see I'm not alone in this.

jogjayr 8y ago

Strongly agree with most of your points. It's a MASSIVE pain in the posterior to be job-hunting. You effectively take on a second part-time job doing interview-prep and everything else in your life gets put on hold - vacations, weekends, quiet evenings with your SO. Woe betide those who have a kid during the process - you might as well stop job-hunting until you're able to get more than 5 hours of sleep every night. I don't advocate memorizing solutions because I don't think it sticks. I prefer to look at the solution and implement the algorithm myself. Pattern recognition is key though. And I too believe that most interviewers who say they're looking for "thought process" are full of shit. Partly because the question always seems easier to the interviewer and than the interviewee. But mostly because all the candidates who did grind through hundreds or thousands of leetcode, hackerrank, careercup and/or topcoder problems have skewed what normal interview performance looks like.

Tmp1234 8y ago

My view has been they are looking for people with high IQs exclusively. Whiteboard interviews cut out people who are not even intelligent enough to memorize solutions and algorithms while also accepting people smart enough to come up with solutions to tough problems they haven't seen before. It seems given how much I struggle I may not even fit in the memorize 300+ leetcode category. I'm very interested in this divide between people who are for white board interviews and against it and how it correlates with job performance and content. I may make a separate post about it because I'd like to get to the bottom of it.

byebyetech 8y ago
>> high IQs exclusively I agree and I think its illegal to do so. Its a form of discrimination so they have disguised it as a "coding challenge".

byebyetech 8y ago

>> vast majority of interviewers will tell you that they're looking for a good thought process as opposed to the correct solution, but they're 100% full of shit so don't believe what they say. I am actively interviewing right now. Also interviewed at FANG companies. This is absolutely 100% correct. Those people don't give shit about thought process as much as they do about correct bug free solution under 15 minutes. If you take even JUST 2 MINUTES to think they start looking at you suspiciously and reject you in their mind. This is really a fucked up situation.