[xtracto]

> As an interviewer though, there were a few instances where I just told people "let's do this problem anyway, don't worry" and the candidates didn't always do a good job.

This is what I've done as an interviewer. But then, my questions actually lend themselves to that. Something that the sample LeetCode questions just don't.

In my experience (as interviewer) LeetCode kind of questions are "gotcha" kind of tests: Either you know "the trick" or you don't, but there's no real constructive value.

In contrast, I prefer tests like let's write a Tic-Tac-Toe, Snake, Twitter-clone (no DB in memory), etc. in 30/60 minutes together in your computer with your IDE, your software, google and language of choice. I am able to do a quick coding session with the person, see her weaknesses and strengths, and even if he has done it before, looking at his real project coding style is super useful.