> What would be your advice be to fresh college graduates, or anybody for that matter, who are good at programming but not at leetcode? Surely there must be a w

> What would be your advice be to fresh college graduates, or anybody for that matter, who are good at programming but not at leetcode? Surely there must be a way to demonstrate their understanding of algorithms without having to spend 3-4 months memorising riddles You're premise assumes someone who has the safety net to spend time on non-compensated work (which is what leetcode is and is really unfair to poor people, but that's a different discussion). Assuming your premise holds: - Work on an open source project and contribute to it. - Work on your own project and publish it - Get an IT job (which only requires Windows and Mac skills but not programming) and then volunteer for any programming project that comes up (automating the ticket system, automating deployments of equipment, automating basically anything that's manual). - Find a non-profit that needs a new web app or phone app and volunteer your time building it for them. Basically, take the time you would be doing leetcode and actually build something public, so that you can take that to an employer and say, "hey I built this".