[soneca]

I was comparing leetcode to sideprojects, not take home assignments. The parent company was also talking about side projects.

Side projects will help you learn useful skills and it is the suggestion of OP that it should be used by more companies in place of leetcode interviews.

Btw, a lot of companies don’t use leetcode for hiring. In my last job hunting season, I would guess than less than 20% of processes used leetcode. Pretty far from “most” companies.

[cutthegrass2]

Completely agree re the value of having side projects. I wish I had the luxury of time right now, maybe in a few years once the kids are older.

The leetcode dance is, at least for me at this point, much lower effort than starting a side project on the understanding the code I produce will be reviewed during interviews. It's like Sudoku, once you've done a "few", you get to the point where you're able to solve them quickly.