I think it's more than possible to get a good software engineering job - I have not had to do any competitive programming or puzzle problems to get a job, altho

I think it's more than possible to get a good software engineering job - I have not had to do any competitive programming or puzzle problems to get a job, although I have a history of being competitive in mathematics in high school (which I generally keep secret, along with many of my accomplishments). Actually, I don't even have a computer science background or even took a programming class (excepting in high school almost 15 years ago, where the teacher was a consultant who didn't even know programming). I don't even think those who have experience doing those things are even a good barometer of whether they would be good coders, or do well in software engineering. They may certainly do well, but I think that companies that look to hire those who can do those are looking for people of a certain mental makeup - some of these companies may arguably be using the wrong criteria for hiring. Your GitHub would make me curious if my company was looking to hire & probably would be enough to get an interview, but knowing how to talk about tech would be important. Since this is all hypotheticals, I wouldn't be able to make a positive determination without an interview, which would be the clincher. Also I see that your GH page lists that you're from India? Many companies may find it difficult bringing on a candidate from overseas (HN's audience is predominantly US), although with the right company, remote work would be possible - however, remote work is probably difficult to pull off unless the company is absolutely confident in you as it is.