Totally agree. I spent a lot longer (months!) on a very challenging real-world side-project, hoping that would be the ticket to a job. At the end of the day, i

Totally agree. I spent a lot longer (months!) on a very challenging real-world side-project, hoping that would be the ticket to a job. At the end of the day, it was the ~40-60 hours I put into Cracking the Code Interview that got me the FAANG job, the side project was barely a blip.