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> I see you’ve asked similar questions to this since 2016 That's good context. And to OP's point, > I have been in the field for a few years...this field has

> I see you’ve asked similar questions to this since 2016 That's good context. And to OP's point, > I have been in the field for a few years...this field has never been my passion, just a profession I like. I've been programming professionally for 10+ years, 20+ when you add in college and what I did growing up. That, and computers are a hobby of mine, and I definitely have a passion for them, and I know a lot of stuff beyond my day-to-day work. I've worked for multiple FAANGs, at other big name's you'd recognize, and startups you wouldn't. I get past phone screens probably 80%-90% of the time and get offers 33%-50% of the time. There are a lot of people like me in the industry. We're not a majority, but it's hard to compete with us, it's not helpful to compare yourself to us, but it's hard because that's what interviewers compare you against. > Apply for jobs that don’t require algorithmic/systems interview tests. Yup. Companies also go easier on system design when someone has ~4 years of experience. > Crack the coding interview I can't remember which one of these I skimmed, but I didn't find any of it super helpful. I might be the wrong audience. > competitive programming sites Not the "competitive" ones, but if you haven't done 50 medium questions with some easy ones thrown in on HackerRank before doing a round of interviews, you haven't prepared. I'd actually avoid the hard questions because they usually involve a twist on one particular algorithm that will take a while to implement, so you'd never actually see it in an interview. The important thing is to know your way around heaps, trees, tries, linked lists, graphs, etc. I found this book helpful, but I read it specifically because I'm better at coding than algorithms. It's not great for knowing how to combine standard data structures to solve problems or how to traverse a tree. http://mimoza.marmara.edu.tr/~msakalli/cse706_12/SkienaTheAlgorithmDesignManual.pdf http://mimoza.marmara.edu.tr/~msakalli/cse706_12/SkienaTheAl...

lowiqengineer 6y ago
> We're not a majority, but it's hard to compete with us, it's not helpful to compare yourself to us, but it's hard because that's what interviewers compare you against. This makes me so sad. I've prepped hard on leetcode for 6 years (since freshman year of college) and I haven't had much to show for it but a total compensation less than Stanford new grads despite two years of tenure. I wonder if there's any point of even living most days.
- aarongraham 6y ago
  Don’t be so hard on yourself mate, you aren’t defined by your job or salary. We should try not to constantly compare ourselves to other people like this, there is always somebody better off or more successful. Based on nothing but these two comments I’d much rather hang out with you than I would the commenter above you. So there’s one thing you win at.
- angrais 6y ago
  Yo buddy, no need to compare yourself with others. You should compare yourself now with your past self six years ago: are you a better person now? If you've spent 6 years doing leetcode and you're still bad at it, then perhaps realise that such problem solving games are not for everyone. Like sudoku. I prefer the word game where you find the word in a grid and I hate crosswords. We're all different and that's what makes us unique and interesting.
  - lowiqengineer 6y ago
    > You should compare yourself now with your past self six years ago: are you a better person now? Kinda? I had more potential then, I could have done Facebook after sophomore year and had my career set for life. Instead I failed that interview and my career has been treading water because I had to join Amazon out of undergrad. Its apparent that I"m not good at these things...the problem is my happiness and financial security are related to them and I'm not doing well!
    - maerF0x0 6y ago
      > I had to join Amazon out of undergrad. You're suffering for a lack of perspective or gratitude. If you're a millennial, realize that you were probably told that you could do anything (and thusly everything), and the effort it would take was trivialized... Both are incorrect. You most likely can do 1 thing super well and it's going to be a shit ton of work if you want to compete against those equally competent.
      - 6y ago

lowiqengineer 6y ago

> We're not a majority, but it's hard to compete with us, it's not helpful to compare yourself to us, but it's hard because that's what interviewers compare you against. This makes me so sad. I've prepped hard on leetcode for 6 years (since freshman year of college) and I haven't had much to show for it but a total compensation less than Stanford new grads despite two years of tenure. I wonder if there's any point of even living most days.

aarongraham 6y ago
Don’t be so hard on yourself mate, you aren’t defined by your job or salary. We should try not to constantly compare ourselves to other people like this, there is always somebody better off or more successful. Based on nothing but these two comments I’d much rather hang out with you than I would the commenter above you. So there’s one thing you win at.
angrais 6y ago
Yo buddy, no need to compare yourself with others. You should compare yourself now with your past self six years ago: are you a better person now? If you've spent 6 years doing leetcode and you're still bad at it, then perhaps realise that such problem solving games are not for everyone. Like sudoku. I prefer the word game where you find the word in a grid and I hate crosswords. We're all different and that's what makes us unique and interesting.
- lowiqengineer 6y ago
  > You should compare yourself now with your past self six years ago: are you a better person now? Kinda? I had more potential then, I could have done Facebook after sophomore year and had my career set for life. Instead I failed that interview and my career has been treading water because I had to join Amazon out of undergrad. Its apparent that I"m not good at these things...the problem is my happiness and financial security are related to them and I'm not doing well!
  - maerF0x0 6y ago
    > I had to join Amazon out of undergrad. You're suffering for a lack of perspective or gratitude. If you're a millennial, realize that you were probably told that you could do anything (and thusly everything), and the effort it would take was trivialized... Both are incorrect. You most likely can do 1 thing super well and it's going to be a shit ton of work if you want to compete against those equally competent.
    - 6y ago