Well the sad truth is grinding Leetcode is much more likely to get you a job at big company where you will make 2x as much and work 1/2 as much as startup. You

Well the sad truth is grinding Leetcode is much more likely to get you a job at big company where you will make 2x as much and work 1/2 as much as startup. You are right. The only thing that matters is how well you do on the LC like interview. If you do poorly but pass you get deleveled no matter how much experience you have. If you do well because you practiced the same question the night before you just massively increased your salary and rank because obviously you are senior.