'Medium' level Leetcode questions are a pretty good way to see how someone thinks and codes. 1) They are generally not that hard, there is no 'trick' to the 1s

'Medium' level Leetcode questions are a pretty good way to see how someone thinks and codes. 1) They are generally not that hard, there is no 'trick' to the 1st order solution, maybe optimizations, yes, but there's always a straight forward 'brute force' solution. 2) There's 'just enough code' to see how they would basically organize a function or two. 3) Plenty of opportunities to talk about second order small stuff, get the interviewee talking and opportunities to express their insight. Yes, it's hard to think when 'someone is watching you' or 'under time pressure' - I would tend to leave the room or go away and say 'don't worry about time, just ping me when you're done and ready to chat'. But I would be reluctant to hire anyone who could not consistently bang out and solve medium level leetcode problems. Experienced devs should be able to knock them out one by one without too-too much time and few hangups.