Passing grueling multi-round leetcode endurance + memorization tests. That's the distinction. So, yes, it's kinda dependent on employers. There's another leve

Passing grueling multi-round leetcode endurance + memorization tests. That's the distinction. So, yes, it's kinda dependent on employers. There's another level of people who are the sort with a reputation that means the leetcode-hazing employers wouldn't dare force them through the usual gauntlet (as they'd refuse), but that's a vanishingly small set of folks. And anyway, I think a lot of them (but not all!) end up doing more "soft" work than banging out code, by the time they're in that phase of their career.