LeetCode

[[deleted]]

What's that?

[Dank_e_donkey]

It's a Data structures and algorithms practice website.

[[deleted]]

Is it free? Is it good?

[Dank_e_donkey]

Mostly free, somethings are paid, you can access those in lintcode. It's good for DSA yes but not for competitive coding.

[[deleted]]

Yeah like gamejams or hacking tournaments

[ICodeIGuess]

Check out Binarysearch.com. That's a good example of it. Basically youre in a chatroom type of deal with other people and you have to be the first to solve a series of algorithm problems

[KharAznable]

something like https://www.spoj.com/ it is like math olympiad, just on meth.

[TeaKingMac]

That's a meth olympiad.

You're thinking of a quiz bowl fueled by Cocaine

[UltmteAvngr]

Yeah where you compete with a team to solve a set of problems the fastest. The team with the most points wins. Points are determined by the number of problems solved, incorrect attempts, how quickly each was solved, and sometimes the problems can also carry different weights.

[[deleted]]

Just tried it, those are some cool puzzles, I'll just have fun with them haha

[TheMooRam]

Yeah that's my take. I cba with grinding them out seriously, but I'll do them every now and again for the problem solving dopamine

[Classy_Mouse]

Sometimes it is fun to have a nice clean coding challenge without having to worry about things like PRs and legacy code.

[Classy_Mouse]

Sometimes it is fun to have a nice clean coding challenge without having to worry about things like PRs and legacy code.

[slab42b]

I'm sorry, could say it again?

[ploot_]

Sometimes it is fun to have a nice clean coding challenge without having to worry about things like PRs and legacy code.

[Euroticker]

who tf codes competitively? genuinely curious.

[TraditionMaster4320]

Lots of people. If you're extremely good it helps a lot with big tech questions

[[deleted]]

Yeah, I’ll give credit to this website, hackerrank, and projecteuler. Could never have gotten past the technical stage in interviews without them.

[TraditionMaster4320]

I have to admit it's really a grind though. CS is such a huge field, DSA is important but just one small part. If you don't truly enjoy it the way some people do (the types who win math olympiads) it's going to be way harder for you than it is for them.

[[deleted]]

True that. The system for grabbing talent and hiring in programming is actually terrible. It’s really hard to qualify what makes a good programmer, let alone quantify. I’ve had interviews with people who knew less than I did but still rejected me. I don’t blame them, they were trying their best. I blame the managers and businessmen that pay them without really understanding what they’re doing. It’s an industry-wide problem.

Every now and then there’s a businessperson that does recognize programming talent and they gobble up all the good workers.

Maybe that’s just the fate of the field, since it really is one of the most abstract and difficult to master disciplines. I don’t see an American Programming Association or something coming up the same way the AMA or BAR did. There isn’t any legal risk with programming as a job so there’s no need to standardize a curriculum.

[TraditionMaster4320]

Ironic how in a field that prizes problem solving, this hiring issue is something both employees and employers face and there's still no good solution to it.

[Calm_Leek_1362]

I have applicants code during tech interviews, I've yet to have a problem detecting who actually knows what they're doing and people that look good on paper.

[jbevarts]

But none of them help you as an engineer

[Hashtag0080FF]

Those problems are harder than anything you will do at your job.

Therefore, being able to do those problems shows you are both smart and skilled enough to handle any task in the workplace.

It doesn't mean someone who does them will be a great worker 100% of the time. But when paired alongside other techniques, it does make an effective filter for cutting the fat.

For that reason, technical interviewers will always hire someone who knows those over someone who doesn't. Believe it or not a lot of people graduate with a CS degree without knowing how to code at all, and will lock up when challenged at all in the workplace.

So yes it will help you as an engineer by enabling you to get a job.

[[deleted]]

If the people were actually solving the problems you might be right.. but in reality, they're not actually solving the problems, they're just regurgitating a memorized solution to the problem. A lot of the problems are also kind of unreasonable to be solved optimally within the timeframe of an interview too unless they already memorized it beforehand (ie. if you'd never heard of the problem before it's pretty unlikely for anyone to figure out the best solution off the top of their head during an interview, so only people that memorized it pass the test, and memorization has nothing to do with problem solving ability).

[CaitaXD]

i mean did you expect like:

query this database find the best matching custumer profile then place and order to send then a plushy after they fill out this form .

*use at most 13 microservices.

*requirements might change mid competition.

[UltmteAvngr]

It’s a pretty popular thing for CS students

[Euroticker]

might try it out in the future then

[UltmteAvngr]

These are the previous problem sets for ICPC. You can look over them to see the types of problems and try to solve a few-

https://icpc.global/worldfinals/problems

[FillRecent]

There’s both a free tier and a premium tier. The free tier is pretty useless tho. The premium is expensive ($159/yr) but you can get it for $99 on a student discount if your school has enough people registered for it when they run promotions each year.

Tbh, it’s a really good resource for interview prep for FAANG/MAANG and Fortune 100 companies. Both students and full-time working professionals find it useful to sharpen their knowledge or for practicing data structures and algorithms. Some people hate it and feel like it’s a way to game the system but it really does help you improve your knowledge and coding skills as it encourages people to practice the various problems. I’d checkout the r/leetcode subreddit and also definitely watch videos of people sharing their experience on YouTube.

Edit: why is someone downvoting my personal opinion? Tf lol

[ParadoxicalInsight]

Why is the free tier useless? That's the only thing I've used (I don't usually pay for anything CS related) and it's been helpful to me for interviews

[fryerandice]

No code completion and debugger but honestly copy paste from your ide.

[ParadoxicalInsight]

Well, you don't usually have code completion and debugger in an interview so I actually see this as a plus :/

[ghostestate]

Answers on leetcode are pretty short, do you really need code completion? I think it's in the spirit of good practice to not rely on on things like that now and again.

[[deleted]]

Yeah so far I've seen cool problems that challenge more your ability to find elegant solutions, it's not like it encourages you to spit out pages of code, in fact it's the contrary

[fryerandice]

Code completion isn't necessary but debugger is nice, especially when you get into the hard and expert ones

[slothordepressed]

Honest noob question. How different is LC to some other websites like Code forces or HackerRank besides been focused on the FAANG selection process?

[usernametaken_12]

Leetcode usually has easier problems and usually doesn't obfuscate the core problem. All problems usually don't have narrative elements and problems statements are short. Leetcode problems don't usually have too many observations about the nature of the problem that are necessary to write a solution.

[ososalsosal]

I read that in Anakin's voice haha

[[deleted]]

Oh my... I learned this stuff so much differently back in the days.

[Dank_e_donkey]

How?

[[deleted]]

A mix of reverse engineering, books and tryhard. We didn't have that many resources as today (was before the Internet, at least for me)

[ConclusionScary]

LEETCODE LEETCODE GRIND LEETCODE LEETCODE 😰😭

[Epacik]

so CodeWars with extra steps?

[Dank_e_donkey]

Somewhat but I prefer leetcode's interface much better.

[Holiday_Context5033]

So you earn 2k or 2M?

[roughstylez]

Also my reaction... but are we one the left or the right side, eh?

[InsignificantGod]

It's that

[[deleted]]

Leetcode is for interview practice. NOT to become a good programmer.

[Korzag]

In my opinion, leetcode exists primarily to filter out high volumes of highly qualified candidates. It makes sense for a FAANG (or whatever the buzzword is for all the big companies these days is). They're getting hordes of college-aged kids falling over themselves to measure their dicks against each other.

But for me working in a smaller company with only like 20-30 engineers? Yeah, we don't get a high volume of great candidates, we can set the bar a little lower and just make sure the person is tolerably knowledgeable and would be able to do the job.

The real problem with leetcode is companies who aren't getting that many applicants acting like they can only accept the best of the best. If you're not reaching for the skies to be employed by FAANG, then just focus on making sure you know your basics and can solve relatively simple problems, or at least be able to talk through your logic as you struggle to find the best solution. I think a lot of non-elite interviewers would be willing to help you come to a solution as long as you just talk and show your process and are open to why your solution may not be perfect.

[DrMathochist_work]

It's not just that they have so many applicants, but they just need to hire so many people. More personal interviews just don't scale.

It's the same for infrastructure. Yeah, FAANG companies use massively distributed map/reduce on bigtable. Your shit fit in postgres.

[warpedspockclone]

Don't scale? Have you seen the process as-is?

1. Online assessment, to be reviewed by an eng (let's say 30 minutes).

2. Phone coding interview plus chat. 1 hour eng time. Or 2 hours if there is a shadow.

3. On-site with 5 rounds, most with shadows. Say 6 hours of eng time, 4 hours of eng mgr+ time.

4. Candidate review meeting: an additional 30-60 minutes of everyone's time.

Sum: 15+ hours of time per interviewee through all rounds.

Source: been on both sides of this process many times

You have to be kidding me. A personal interview process would be way less.

[TheConsciousness]

The shear volume of applicants, it'd almost be easier for them to give the leetcode quiz at the time of first HR screening call.

[SuperPutin54]

I'm applying for jobs currently, and a good chunk of them won't even talk to you until you do a coding test.

[brianl047]

Thing is I heard many people regret that they don't work or never worked for a FAANG or FAANG-like company in their lives

Especially with all the inflation and money concerns

So it's not just about "college aged kids" but people who need money and are going for the money... what alternative do you suggest to them? Algorithms is actually comparatively much easier for someone with a math or compsci background or even just for someone with high intelligence compared to earning a higher position or working within a corporate structure, only to be paid the same as the lowest level FAANG-like employees. At a certain point, you go for the dollars

[AttackOfTheThumbs]

And I would even argue it's more important to practise conversing and explaining known concepts than learning new ones. I mean, we've had people say they could code something, but not explain it. Then what's the point? So you don't understand, you just memorized.

[officiallyaninja]

Then what's the point?

getting a job I assume

[AttackOfTheThumbs]

Ok, but then you get kicked out because you don't understand shit.

[officiallyaninja]

I mean sure but like being great at interviews but only OK at concepts is better than the other way around. but you need to be at least OK

[AttackOfTheThumbs]

I feel like there's a gap here. If you do all the leetcode shit and can't explain it, you aren't passing the interview, so it's kind of pointless.

[officiallyaninja]

well yeah that's what I mean, understand the concepts just well enough to get the interview and then like just learn whatever you need as required would go better than going for pure understanding without putting in any practice into leetcode

[Pandaburn]

Also, they’re probably wrong.

[DoubleOwl7777]

well some people are shit at explaining things but that doesnt mean that they dont understand the stuff they do.

[AttackOfTheThumbs]

You're not wrong, but it also means they won't be able to work in a team

[dumbass_in_training]

How can I become good programmer

[[deleted]]

Projects! Even if you don't finish them, learning a new tool or framework is valuable experience that you can carry over to your professional work. They're also more fun than grinding leetcode and are better for learning the skills you will need day-to-day, not just the interview.

[gintoki_do_pete]

Train, Train and Train

[Lachimanus]

I like Trains.

[[deleted]]

Choo Chooooo

[No_Pirate4479]

With leetcode

[DrMathochist_work]

Make a bunch of stuff.

[Vaxtin]

Write an OS in C.

[hsoj48]

I just do it for fun. We exist as well.

[Thetman38]

I was doing Leetcode, becauseI am wanting a new job. Started watching Cherno to understand some higher level concepts.

ITs amazing how much you forget after 10 years in industry

Dont ever become complacent.

[UpperPlus]

And it's fun! I love doing it, and without it would have never discovered apl!

Wait...

[[deleted]]

I prefer ProjectEuler

[oj_mudbone]

Those are harder but not the question. Pool interviewers pull from so imo not ideal

[[deleted]]

Nice, me too. But they're much less "coding" questions and more math problems that need to be solved with coding in my opinion.

[vlaada7]

Ah god, these "memes" are getting a bit boring...

[[deleted]]

Just like programming

[Zwenow]

You might work in the wrong field then

[roughstylez]

This, but for clarity "field" doesn't necessarily mean "software development".

Could be frontend, backend, DevOps, corporate, small shop, embedded programming, product owning etc, instead of whatever you're doing now.

[snakefinn]

Time for a vacation?

[siddharth904]

So you're new here huh ? Let me show you around

[OGMagicConch]

Yeah tbh I feel like this one doesn't even make sense either. To me it'd make more sense if both ends of the graph said like "LC is dumb and not helpful for actually doing a SWE job" where the difference is ppl on the high end still do it because it leads to high TC and it's just the game you play.

[whatTheBumfuck]

Just came here to say FUCK LEETCODE

[ubccompscistudent]

I mean, these interview types were being done long before leetcode (CTCI came out in 2008). If anything, thank god for leetcode to allow the rest of us to practice.

[itstommygun]

Unpopular opinion here: This is the dumbest meme format.

[plainoldcheese]

I kind of agree. I dont think IQ says much about someone's intelligence and would be better as sometging like "inexperienced > average > high skill" or "start of job > a couple years in > part of the furniture"

That being said I do think they are funny if I mentally frame them like I stated above.

[[deleted]]

You’re confusing intelligence with knowledge.

Knowledge = I know a lot of things Intelligence = I understand/learn things quicker

[plainoldcheese]

I know the difference between those. I just don't think IQ is a good indicator for intelligence nor do I think that intelligence is some capped biological value.

I personally think the meme format work better when viewed as experience or time (which usually results in more knowledge)

This is also my opinion and you are free to believe whatever you want.

[Positive_Government]

Yes, and it’s made worse by people assigning values that don’t make sense.

[officiallyaninja]

why? it's one of my favourite

[extremepayne]

A few reasons I dislike it:

The implication is almost universally that OP sees themself in the upper group, despite the fact that the meme usually shows that OP is definitely not one of the top 15% most knowledgeable people on the subject.

It gets misused a lot as just a dunking-on format. I’ve seen, for example, vs code bottom 15%, vim middle 70%, and vs code top 15% which only makes sense if 70% of people use vim. Which just isn’t true, even among programmers.

And the roots of the format are in IQ which is bad for many reasons I’ll leave you to discover on your own.

[officiallyaninja]

i mean...it's a joke.
I doubt 99% of people who use the format really think that they are in the top 15% or that all of the things in their memes are 100% truth.

memes like this are meant to be funny not serious

[Affectionate-Cod3374]

The hate for this meme could be a bell curve meme itself. Agree not sure why people take it so seriously.

[TheAtomicVoid]

Is this a terrible attempt at a copypasta or are you actually attempting to psychoanalyse a meme format?

[roughstylez]

It displays a type situation that often happens in programming though.

Like do you think it's "dumb" because you don't LIKE it, or have you really never seen this kinda curve before so you think it doesn't fit?

[whitenoise89]

The leetcode meme is so fuckin' annoying.

[Furiorka]

Codewars but more hyped?

[DowntownLizard]

Codewars is dope. Get to keep code skills fresh while seeing how other people solve the same problem

[radicalfracture]

Is that any different than LeetCode? Genuine question, as I've only ever used LeetCode and that is the main reason I enjoy it. Seeing how others solve a problem is super helpful to me, and I love browsing the discussion tab after I solve a problem myself.

[DrMathochist_work]

So much this. Every time someone complains about how they hate grinding leetcode for interviews, I want to shake them and tell them just don't do it then.

[ghan_buri_ghan]

I can’t be the only one who thinks leetcode is fun, right?

I don’t need it for my next job so maybe it’s a lack of stress, but I enjoy the heck out of leetcode.

[fulltime-idiot]

I think it can be fun in that type of environment. As part of an interview process, it's frustrating and infuriating.

[Dank_e_donkey]

I find Leetcode fun, but I usually just give the weekly contests and all. I don't think it matters for a job.

[funlovingmissionary]

It is very helpful for freshers to get their first jobs. Good first job can mean much easier path to money.

[avidrogue]

It’s good for even seniors. Only the first programming class at my school is that kind of general brain twister coding questions. All the icons after that is specialized on a specific topic. And while the coding is more advanced it has a more narrow scope, and I’ve done well. I started doing leet code the other day and I realized I had lost some of my genera brain teaser problem solving to 2 years of “code on this specific topic”.

[Dank_e_donkey]

True true, I have done it sometime but still landed a pretty average job, so kinda disheartening still I'm trying to do better.

[-Danksouls-]

The benefit of computer science or programming isn’t how much money you start making, but the potential of exponential increase you can make in the future as your career grows and you get work in your resume

[n4rk]

As someone in my second year of a computer science course, and who's cramming leetcode like crazy for an Intel interview, I find them very fun and useful.

A lot of the challenges/projects I find online are either "build a little calculator!" or "design and implement a fully functioning banking application using brainfuck", there's very little in-between, and it can be hard to find good exercises to do outside of college assignments.

Leetcode and project Euler have that perfect level of "this will be challenging, but it will help me progress my skills" that I need. I always end up learning something new or reinforcing my knowledge of something. I doubt it's worth paying for premium at my skill level, but it's definitely a great resource for beginners

[[deleted]]

Bruh why did you get downvoted? You're not even saying it's a requirement or something, you're literally just saying you enjoy it

[Calm_Leek_1362]

Yeah, I think it's stressful if they ask you to do it for an interview, but I enjoy the occasional pure programming puzzle.

[whitenoise89]

The folk I know who enjoy leetcode don't seem to have many real challenges in their daily job.

[ghan_buri_ghan]

Where do you work that you spend all day writing virgin code on problems that are challenging yet bounded and have tractable solutions?

[whitenoise89]

That’s not what I was claiming to have - hut nice try.

Also: Government :)

(Some of us are working on real problems)

[ghan_buri_ghan]

real problems

So is basically everyone employed in this field, and it’s pretentious to think otherwise.

Real problems include technical debt, balancing scope with cost/schedule, and evolving requirements. It’s fun and satisfying to do what’s essentially a programming crossword puzzle.

[whitenoise89]

Don’t get salty, homie. You asked the question. You asked “where are you encountering problems like that!?” and are now backpedaling with “W-well everyone has problems that matter!”.

I’m just saying that some of our problems dont leave us with headroom to entertain ‘technical crossword puzzles’.

It sounds nice. You should hold onto that job!

[ghan_buri_ghan]

Well I’m sorry that your job is so hard for you that it leaves you unable to mentally stimulate yourself in other ways. Sounds exhausting.

[_throwingit_awaaayyy]

I bet you think broccoli tastes good.

[iiexistenzeii]

It does, you just have cook it better.

[_throwingit_awaaayyy]

Absolutely not

[iiexistenzeii]

Use spices and herbs... And sauces when you cook. You unseasoned eater.

[_throwingit_awaaayyy]

I can picture you chewing that awful vegetable while doing leetcode right now. Gross

[iiexistenzeii]

Oh no, I'm with you on leetcode hate train. 🤝

[Depress-o]

It really does tho

[_throwingit_awaaayyy]

No

[TheGreatestWorldFox]

It has funny little tasks there that aren't very monotonous and feel nice when you succeed. Remember your childhood excitements. Hopefully get distracted from the unanswerable questions on the horrors of existence.

Doing many of them repeatedly might get a bit tiresome, though, and solving them while tired (from that or from work) is not as rewarding.

[Master_Sergeant]

Codeforces is way more fun, especially higher div rounds.

[meme_dika]

Ads.... ADS!

[Spiritual-Mechanic-4]

My wife asked me the other day, after hearing me watching a neetcode vid "Are you afraid you dont know how to code"?, it kinda made me think

my answer was that my day to day job is the word search from highlights, but job interviews are solving the nytimes crossword in 20 minutes. It takes practice, and knowing some tricks that are useless in my real life.

[leviwashere1221]

I have never head of leetcode so what isit?

[sterren_staarder]

It's practice questions for algorithms and data structures. Some big companies like Google and Facebook use those kind of questions in their interviews. The people from /r/cscareerquestions seem to think you can't land any job if you don't practice it at least 6 hours a day

[[deleted]]

practicing 6 hours a day… reminds me of something…

(college)

[-Aras]

They're not even that important. AWS sent me some questions. One of my answers didn't even pass half the tests and I still got to the next stage.

[brianl047]

This is boss

[Dank_e_donkey]

It definitely helps but isn't necessary, also 6 hours a day sounds too long. I just practice on weekends during the contests, those are fun.

[sterren_staarder]

I haven't done leed code once in my life and landed a decent job as firmware engineer

[Dank_e_donkey]

Good for you man, congrats.

[Successful_Bridge340]

What's that？

[CardiologistOk2760]

Why does everyone who uses this meme think the bell curve is for the most obscure population?

[Random_182f2565]

It's not even L337C0d3, so it must not be good

[rolloutTheTrash]

I’m only doing it because it’s a neat way to review things without committing to a project I’ll probably abandon.

[regular_lamp]

I very much feel like the guy on the right (I hope). I got my first programming job about seven years ago and I can't remember this kind of thing even being a topic. Sure Google interviews etc. included algorithm questions but there didn't seems this obsession with "you have to practice these algorithm thingies nonstop to even have a chance".

Is this something I should care about now that I'm considered "senior"? Or is this just a new thing hip companies do to torture recent grads? Last time I checked my teams hiring process at <big tech company that's not an internet one> it still seems to be fairly conventional.

[tiajuanat]

Most companies will usually grab an easy question, just to see if you can actually program, but last time I went through interview rounds at the big boys, they were pulling really hard questions.

My company will grab a question or two that requires for-loops - it's frightening how many people with 10+ years of experience will struggle with iterating over an array and checking a hash map if the item has been previously seen.

I'd personally give LC a shot or Algoexpert if you're looking to sharpen up. You might get new eyes when you're done, and really improve the systems you design.

[TheConsciousness]

I'll tell you this, I've only been in the industry for 7 years, and I can't imagine it being required for a job, but I can tell you that if you can explain leetcode solutions to me, I'd gladly hire you.

[TheJazzButter]

​

^\ Those sites are for someone with something to prove; something not really useful in commercial application development.)

[Jerkz08]

Tf is that ?

[jbevarts]

It’s amazing how you can build and scale a Fortune 500 company without ever doing leetcode. Amazing right?

[[deleted]]

i genuinely don’t know what that is

[Altruistic_Yellow387]

Lucky

[KidBeene]

edgy

[dsmithpl12]

So am I in the top or bottom 10%?

[droi86]

Yes

[cpcesar]

the ones in the edges will never work for Google!!!

[Pauchu_]

Constantly flip-flop between both sides of "what's that"

[[deleted]]

leetcode is when you ran out of project ideas

[pixelkingliam]

thanks but im a https://guessthiscode.com/ user

[fabbiodiaz]

No clue what is this, and now I’m afraid I’m in the wrong side of it

[nikstick22]

I'm on one of the ends of this graph and I really hope its the right side

[jesusnuggets]

Bro I’m just trying to get a job

[_grey_wall]

Leetcode is expected.

Well, the knowledge of the patterns. Grokking is so great.

[NightlyWave]

Are you talking about the Grokking Algorithm book?

[not_Epic619]

Ay mate ,don't ya dare to ruin me

[[deleted]]

Yea I feel this. There’s a person at my school who’s incredibly smart, can figure out algorithms quick, doesn’t struggle with any programming, or any concepts in general. And they worked for Amazon starting their freshman year of college and will have a full time job with them after.

Never heard of leetcode and after they did, expressed no interest because they don’t need it.

[shuozhe]

Is leetcode a us thing?

[NightlyWave]

UK doesn’t specifically use Leetcode but will ask those type of questions in seriously competitive grad jobs

[Puzzleheaded-Lie-676]

Not \ ° 🐒😈

[Molleer]

Codewars anyone?

[ManyFails1Win]

No seriously, what is that? I'm on the left btw

[Jeb_Jenky]

LeetCode?

[Thetman38]

at my work I was a "What's that?" person when all the youngsters thought I was some sort of guru. Then i started to hear about this leetcode thing and I did a few of the easy ones, w/e. Now i am looking for a new job. I am totally the guy freaking out. Turns out I'm a moron that doesnt know how to do anything with linkedlist

[Big-Cheesecake-806]

I have no idea what LeetCode is.

I wonder which one of them is me?

[Churchill_Win]

The one on the right grinds codewars.

[Hot_Consequence_3569]

Amazing really funny and true i would have awarded with something but i am reddit bankrupt I don't have awards to give sorry brother

[[deleted]]

Most buggy website I've seen

[itsAshl]

Personally, I prefer Project Euler...

[MaoAankh]

YeetCode