I think you should try to interview at a few of those places, then you'll understand why everyone focuses on the algo parts. If you fail one interview type, it

I think you should try to interview at a few of those places, then you'll understand why everyone focuses on the algo parts. If you fail one interview type, it's very rare that you will get an offer, and it pisses you off that you failed one interview because it was some left field random algo question that you haven't encountered before. The rest of the interview types are fairly easy to prepare for, you almost do not have to, just do a few interview loops with your lower priority companies and your mostly good. I also would reconsider not working at a pubicly traded company. I used to work in a startup for years, and I regret not switching sooner. Dan luu summarizes my thoughts on it: https://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/ https://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/