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Leetcode problems mostly come from competitive programming. That's what FAANG wants: olympiad programmers.

dan-robertson 4y ago
I think the people who come up with leetcode problems are just going to be into competitive programming. There are a bunch of tricks that are specific to competitive programming just like there are a bunch of common tricks/themes in IMO problems. And, like in IMO, some of th3 required skills are only relevant to the competition and some are more generally applicable (even if part of the value of competitive programming is just being good at some coding interviews)
- musicale 4y ago
  > part of the value of competitive programming is just being good at some coding interviews This is crystallized into leetcode, which trains you for "technical" interviews that consist of solving leetcode problems. It's a circular system. However, using algorithm puzzles is something of an improvement over old school puzzle interviews where you might have had to solve a rubik's cube, a chess problem, logic puzzles, or an arbitrary "brain teaser."
zwkrt 4y ago
Well, it certainly helps confirm my theory that Leetcode interviews are actually just intelligence tests.
- postsantum 4y ago
  Or proof-of-work tests Or servility tests
  - warinukraine 4y ago
  - musicale 4y ago
    > Or servility tests Nice phrase - for most jobs servility/compliance is the most important qualification. In many cases I expect whiteboard "technical" interviews could be replaced with one or two questions: 1. What is your experience in "programming contests" (actually algorithm puzzle contests such as ICPC, etc.)? 2. What was the last algorithms course you completed, and when and where did you take it?
lawrenceyan 4y ago
This comment comes off as a little self-deprecating / resigned. So I just want to say, don’t underestimate yourself! I think you would be surprised as to how much you can actually achieve/learn + how doable these problems are once your foundation is down. The potential of the average person is vastly underestimated, and the “gifted”/genius person vastly overhyped.
zodiac 4y ago
I wish discussions of such site didn't inevitably become discussions about software engineer interviews. It's a really nice site created by volunteers and I've often had it been the only decent resource online for a particular topic, if you want to use it as a reference their "terse but accurate" style for the prose and the compact working C++ code is really nice. And it covers some topics (e.g. treaps) which I've never seen appear in software engineer interviews.
saagarjha 4y ago
Leetcode problems are generally the easy end of competitive programming. Otherwise nobody would pass them :P

I think the people who come up with leetcode problems are just going to be into competitive programming. There are a bunch of tricks that are specific to competitive programming just like there are a bunch of common tricks/themes in IMO problems. And, like in IMO, some of th3 required skills are only relevant to the competition and some are more generally applicable (even if part of the value of competitive programming is just being good at some coding interviews)

musicale 4y ago
> part of the value of competitive programming is just being good at some coding interviews This is crystallized into leetcode, which trains you for "technical" interviews that consist of solving leetcode problems. It's a circular system. However, using algorithm puzzles is something of an improvement over old school puzzle interviews where you might have had to solve a rubik's cube, a chess problem, logic puzzles, or an arbitrary "brain teaser."

zwkrt 4y ago

Well, it certainly helps confirm my theory that Leetcode interviews are actually just intelligence tests.

postsantum 4y ago
Or proof-of-work tests Or servility tests
- warinukraine 4y ago
- musicale 4y ago
  > Or servility tests Nice phrase - for most jobs servility/compliance is the most important qualification. In many cases I expect whiteboard "technical" interviews could be replaced with one or two questions: 1. What is your experience in "programming contests" (actually algorithm puzzle contests such as ICPC, etc.)? 2. What was the last algorithms course you completed, and when and where did you take it?

lawrenceyan 4y ago

This comment comes off as a little self-deprecating / resigned. So I just want to say, don’t underestimate yourself! I think you would be surprised as to how much you can actually achieve/learn + how doable these problems are once your foundation is down. The potential of the average person is vastly underestimated, and the “gifted”/genius person vastly overhyped.

zodiac 4y ago

I wish discussions of such site didn't inevitably become discussions about software engineer interviews. It's a really nice site created by volunteers and I've often had it been the only decent resource online for a particular topic, if you want to use it as a reference their "terse but accurate" style for the prose and the compact working C++ code is really nice. And it covers some topics (e.g. treaps) which I've never seen appear in software engineer interviews.

saagarjha 4y ago

Leetcode problems are generally the easy end of competitive programming. Otherwise nobody would pass them :P