My first response focused on problems that do not require knowledge of any named algorithms, data structures, math or tricks. I even mentioned I do not care abo

My first response focused on problems that do not require knowledge of any named algorithms, data structures, math or tricks. I even mentioned I do not care about heaps, linked lists etc. I'm not sure how we're back at LeetCode. Of course you're going to have to spend weeks on LeetCode if interview questions target knowledge of dynamic programming, heaps etc. You're preaching to the choir. My point was that FizzBuzz might test individuals to see if they can code, but there are "harder" problems that happen on a daily basis, and the amount of years you put in will affect your ability to pattern match. Competitive programming captures a part of the essence of programming, you're writing minimal, fast and efficient programs. You improve your pattern matching to minimize the amount of intermediate state, unnecessary loops etc. After some point, competitive nature pushes you to specialize, and then it probably stops making sense if you want to make programming your craft.