Can I leetcode my way into SWE?
I’m currently a Salesforce Dev (not the same thing as a SWE for Salesforce) trying to transition into SWE roles. Therefore, only part of my work is coding w/ Java, JS, HTML, CSS and irrelevant salesforce crm specific frameworks. This is worrying because during interviews I am worried that I’ll be expected to know more common well known frameworks (react, typescript, etc.) However, I have ~300+ LC - is this enough to break into swe? If so, where and how? TLDR: which companies can I leetcode my way into? #engineering #software #swe
You can leetcode your way into an SWE position but once you get there you’ll have no idea what you’re doing (and probably get PIPed).
Even for entry level?
If you manage to get 300+ LC, I'm sure you can take a few weekends to learn a language/framework. You'll be fine. Bootcampers do it all the time.
With 300 LC, I'm sure you can LC your way in lol.
FAANG interviews rarely involve framework specific questions AFAIK, so LC problems should be good enough for clearing algorithmic rounds. But, depending on the specific role (Frontend/Backend), you might be required to go through System Design Interviews. For entry level positions, System Deisgn Interviews are of little importance.
Doesn’t hurt to try, but if you’re interviewing for front end roles, they put less of an emphasis on leetcode. Basically any interview where they ask you questions specific to react or other front end frameworks will not be your typical leetcode interview. If you just want to leetcode your way in you should shoot for general SWE/backend roles. Also just leetcoding in might be difficult because they do usually at least discuss other experience you have in the interview. You might have to settle for entry level if it’s big tech you’re aiming for.
I think I’m okay discussing my technical experience, even though it’s not in a traditional SWE stack. 1. Do you know which companies hire generalists? 2. Would backend roles still be appropriate if my only strength is in Java?
Almost all companies hire generalists. Big tech does of course, and obviously Google is the biggest generalist hiring company. I think firms like Salesforce might, you can prob just search for SWE jobs and anything that doesn’t say front end or ML is usually generalist. Java should be fine if you’re going for generalist or back end. Learning languages is very easy, they’re all really the same after a while.