"Make time to learn" and "make time to practice specific problems" are not at all the same thing; the conflation of grinding leetcode with growing understanding is a problem.
> the conflation of grinding leetcode with growing understanding is a problem.
It's understanding something, even if it's not the job skills. Can you imagine someone who performs well at these kinds of challenges being a bad hire?
> Can you imagine someone who performs well at these kinds of challenges being a bad hire?
I've gotten way better at these problems from practice. Am I suddenly an amazing programmer as a result? I wish that were the case, but sadly I don't believe my job skills are improved at all.
That suggests we're measuring something fairly independent.
> It's no better than any other evidence of effort
I think one thing that's better is it has a hard IQ floor that can only be compensated with a huge amount of memorization and practice, but that's a worthwhile skill on it's own.
It's understanding something, even if it's not the job skills. Can you imagine someone who performs well at these kinds of challenges being a bad hire?