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You shouldn't need to spend a lot of time on leetcode as a senior engineer. I do one leetcode problem every week from lists of recommend problems. You will real

You shouldn't need to spend a lot of time on leetcode as a senior engineer. I do one leetcode problem every week from lists of recommend problems. You will realistically have 40 min of time to work on the problem, and you will go slower during the interview, so if I don't get an optimal solution in 30 min I give up and look at a solution. I'll spend at most another 30 min filling the gaps in my knowledge that will let me solve a similar problem next time I see one. I then add the problem to a queue of past problems I've failed. I've been doing this for years, but if you're just starting out you might need to cram more. For side projects, I don't do them and have never had issues with that. I spend time reading stuff on my phone during downtime, which has been enough to keep me up to date on stuff.

TheHumanist 3y ago
I'm a newer dev... just under a year and feel I've made decent progress in that time. I hear about leetcode a lot but honestly am not really sure what it is, why it's talked about so much, why people 'grind' leetcode... and why do you specifically do a leetcode problem each week? Is it specific to just a certain small set of languages? Are the specific types of questions asked by FAANG companies in interviews? What's up with leetcode?! lol
- Jtsummers 3y ago
  They are the types of questions asked by FAANG and the wannabes (cargo cult style) for many years now. There's a site (and other resources) collecting those kinds of problems. They're mostly uninteresting and any CS graduate with a solid data structures and algorithms background (as in the 1xx and probably 3xx level courses, usually 2-3 total over a CS degree) should be able to figure them out if given time. But they aren't given time or they don't have that background or they putzed around in school instead of studying, so people memorize the answers instead for a large number of problems ("grinding") and hope that what they studied are the ones asked.
- arcbyte 3y ago
  Leetcode is essentially what a Comp Sci student learns in their 2nd year Algorithms course. There are a few more esoteric algorithms that don't get covered in college and but 90% is stuff I remember from college.
- syndacks 3y ago
  innocent little lamb

TheHumanist 3y ago

I'm a newer dev... just under a year and feel I've made decent progress in that time. I hear about leetcode a lot but honestly am not really sure what it is, why it's talked about so much, why people 'grind' leetcode... and why do you specifically do a leetcode problem each week? Is it specific to just a certain small set of languages? Are the specific types of questions asked by FAANG companies in interviews? What's up with leetcode?! lol

Jtsummers 3y ago
They are the types of questions asked by FAANG and the wannabes (cargo cult style) for many years now. There's a site (and other resources) collecting those kinds of problems. They're mostly uninteresting and any CS graduate with a solid data structures and algorithms background (as in the 1xx and probably 3xx level courses, usually 2-3 total over a CS degree) should be able to figure them out if given time. But they aren't given time or they don't have that background or they putzed around in school instead of studying, so people memorize the answers instead for a large number of problems ("grinding") and hope that what they studied are the ones asked.
arcbyte 3y ago
Leetcode is essentially what a Comp Sci student learns in their 2nd year Algorithms course. There are a few more esoteric algorithms that don't get covered in college and but 90% is stuff I remember from college.
syndacks 3y ago
innocent little lamb