Leetcode has taught me that I'm a bad engineer
What exactly is leetcode and why is it involved in some SWE interviews and not others?
What exactly is leetcode
One of the websites that hosts programming challenge problems. More generically, a "leetcode interview" is an interview where you solve a problem of the sort that would appear on that site.
why is it involved in some SWE interviews and not others?
In short, because different companies have different interview processes. Some of them believe that an employee should be able to solve hard problems efficiently and quickly. Some believe that a coding test like that doesn't reflect the work that the candidate would have to do when hired.
More on reddit.comWhy do some software engineers say leetcode isn't worth it?
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A little advice to developers who are starting out from a software architect with 15 years experience and a 2:1 Computer Science degree.
Today was the first time I've ever seen Leetcode whilst I was watching a few YouTube videos about some updates to C# (My language of choice). For me, Leetcode is definitely not reflective at all of what you would do in the majority of programming jobs and is very algorithmically heavy. Most of these algorithms you will not need to know at all most of the time as most languages contain core libraries that do this stuff way more efficiently than most developers will be able to do.
Case in point, I was stuck on the first question today for about 45 minutes mainly because the question was worded really badly. I managed to solve that pretty quickly after I understood what it was asking for although I will admit I did it in my IDE rather than in Leetcode as nobody codes in the equivalent of Notepad anymore (although that's how I started back in the day).
The second question I was completely stumped and gave up because it was more maths than programming (and believe it or not, you do not need to be good at maths to be a good developer). It's really going to depend on what you end up doing as an actual job.
If you are writing drivers or doing anything mathematically heavy in your job then yes Leetcode might be a good fit but mostly it's algorithmic nonsense that most developers will never even use. I've worked for some of the biggest banks, insurance providers doing APIs hooking up to some pretty complex business logic and never have I had to use anything close to Leetcode level solutions.
My point is, don't be disappointed in yourself if you struggle with Leetcode. You can still be a success. Lead teams. Produce mobile applications and desktop systems that millions of users use and enjoy each year all without ever needing to worry about the types or problems shown on Leetcode.
I am torn between two paths through WGU. Either an easier (shorter) bachelors in IT + The Odin Project or possibly bootcamp, OR a harder degree in software development + grinding leetcode.
For background I am a father of 2 and have a full time job so I am leaning toward the easier degree plus TOP. But I am just trying to understand what would be better.
What exactly is leetcode
One of the websites that hosts programming challenge problems. More generically, a "leetcode interview" is an interview where you solve a problem of the sort that would appear on that site.
why is it involved in some SWE interviews and not others?
In short, because different companies have different interview processes. Some of them believe that an employee should be able to solve hard problems efficiently and quickly. Some believe that a coding test like that doesn't reflect the work that the candidate would have to do when hired.
I would suggest going with the shorter option for education, learning by doing is best anyway, more time spent in class isn't that useful. You might want to find time to do some leetcode even if you go this route.
Leetcode is one of many websites to train your ability at coming up with efficient algorithms to solve small theoretical problems. Essentially they have a problem like "Longest Palindromic Substring" and challenge you to write the algorithm with the best time and space complexity.
It's used in interviews mainly to showcase your ability to solve problems, your understanding of time/space complexity and data structures as well as your ability to communicate your solution and ask the right questions.
It is favored by companies that plan to train you more so than companies that want you to just "hit the ground running" since it doesn't actually verify your mastery of any particular technology.
For example, a non-tech company that wants to hire a react developer will most likely prefer a portfolio of previous react projects and ask react questions.
On the other hand, a company like google that uses a lot of different technology stacks and has lots of different projects will prefer to judge you on more fundamental abilities that will transfer across any project(problem solving, communication, systems design).
I've seen some in the industry claim that leetcode isn't worth it because on the job your not doing leetcode related problems.
While this might be true, I've been dabbling in leetcode and when it comes to making projects I now feel confident going in making more dynamic functions to make my projects feel more interactive. Becoming versatile in programming seems to work better for me.
I personally want to master leetcode/algorithims and be able to do hard and medium problems with ease within a year or two. Is it more worth to just rush projects and work on speed and efficiency then doing complicated problems?
I've been spending a lot of time on LeetCode to improve my problem-solving skills, but sometimes I feel bad when I see others building cool projects while I'm stuck solving algorithms for hours.
I know problem-solving is important for interviews, but I’m wondering, do companies care more about LeetCode-type skills or actual projects you’ve built? Which one should I focus more on to make the best impact? It feels like both matter, but I’m not sure which one holds more weight.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
I've been wondering if grinding LeetCode is actually useful beyond just preparing for interviews. In my opinion, these types of problems (e.g., algorithm puzzles, data structures challenges) feel pretty far removed from real-world software development, where you rarely implement things like linked lists or complex graph algorithms from scratch.
Do you think LeetCode genuinely helps improve general problem-solving skills and makes you a better developer overall? Or is it mostly just a way to "game" interviews? I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences!
I just graduated from school and im trying to use that time as good as possible while looking for a job! And I dont know what to program to become better..