Next sentence following the first quote: "That doesn't make them bad engineers." You stated "Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL area

Next sentence following the first quote: "That doesn't make them bad engineers." You stated "Some of the best people I've worked with are living in low COL areas". I think we agree here. The broader point with the first quote: People living in LCOL areas don't pull out all the bells-and-whistles to signal how absolutely amazing of an employee they'd be. Why? Because it doesn't matter in LCOL areas. If you went to a town in the middle of nowhere, and held everyone to the Leetcode hard bar, a smaller proportion would pass than in Silicon Valley. However, the hiring bar is lower in these areas as well -- therefore, one doesn't need to practice leetcode to secure employment in LCOL areas. Re side note: I didn't say people do 100 hours of leetcode in a specific timeframe (one week was mentioned, but the GP comment didn't suggested that). Typically, interviewees Leetcode in preparation for FANGs. This preparation is done typically over a period of months.