Everyone here embraces leetcoding. Some, though, say “it’s the ultimate cheat,” in bad way. I’m conflicted whether to leetcode or not? I work with low level C/C++ embedded and system level programming, and my compensation is pretty bad and it’s impacting my life a lot, especially because I come from a lower class family and my parents are old and are going to depend on me to support them. Anyways, I would like to have a good paying job. People recommend leetcoding, but I’m not sure that’s right for me. Even though I can discipline myself to leetcode for 9 months and then get that FAANG job, I’m scared that I might not survive, because I would not have any domain knowledge. Seems like most system design preps are for distributed system and backend engineering, which I have not worked with. I can learn the concepts, but how long can I survive in FAANG having mastered these concepts and not having any practical experience in the field? I understand that FAANG have generalist software engineer interview process, but can someone with my background be able to survive at FAANG? Basically, is the leetcodepath worth taking in the first place? Obligatory: YoE: 4 TC: ~80k HCOL #tech #advise #facebook #google #apple
I had 10 yoe, similar background, ~60k TC. Leetcoded a whole year. Work is much easier than interview imo.
Just do it. You're right in that Leetcoding is about passing the interview and not prepping for the end job, but that's just the way it is. Most companies expect you to learn the job on the job if it's a new domain or they are inexperienced. The important thing is that you are capable of learning, not that you've previously worked with distributed systems. One thing I can tell you is that many people even in AWS do not touch distributed services, and even more only build on top of core distributed services which do all the heavy lifting for you in most cases, and you just need some simple service code. Tldr: show the company you can pass their test, prove your worthy by learning and doing on the job. You'd be surprised how many fail the latter but excel in the former. Given your background you will be fine.
All big names have openings in embedded/ low level/ systems programming. Even for such positions, Leetcode is must. They may not ask distributed system design instead low level system design. You will find lots of such interview experience threads on leetcode or here. Go though them and then decide. If you specifically tell recruiter that you are looking for low level roles, then they won’t ask you distributed sys design in design round. About survival, if you go for roles suitable for your profile then no need to worry.
You only have 4 yoe, of course you can do it.
If you do it, don’t stress about it. Some questions can really drive you insane just revisit them later
I have 8 yoe and only 300k tc, but also only 30ish leetcode. So do whatever
Leetcode is the truth, many interviews are just copy and paste.
do it!
Do it. I went from 70 to 165 to 220. I fucking suck at coding too but did leetcode
I hopped 3 jobs in 4 years. At Microsoft rn, might stay for a while :p
Did switch disciplines after each switch? Or did you continue working with the same discipline after switching to a new role? Assuming you were working with distributed systems, did you stay with distributed systems after switching or did you switch to something else like embedded or machine learning?