Am I getting dumber, or is Leetcode hard?

[throwaway47747]

Me: in my early 30s, working as a software engineer in a FAANG for the better part of a decade.

I’m starting to interview for my next role. To prep, I spent the last few days grinding at Leetcode problems.

Man I feel rusty. Some problems are easy, but many are not. I spent like 4 hours today trying to wrap my head around a “moderate difficulty” problem and my head still hurts. If I get this problem on an interview I’ll fail for sure.

I know Leetcode is a small part of the interview, alongside system design, people skills, etc. Regardless I feel anxious about interviews because I know I know my shit when it comes to building product, but if I get Leetcode questions I may not get a chance to show that I know my shit. I’m also feeling some impostor syndrome: a decade ago I could have solved these no problem, but now I’m either rusty or my brain just doesn’t work the way it used to.

Not looking for advice necessarily, just venting. Maybe others have experienced something similar.

[8chanAnon]

I had to look up the meaning of Leetcode. Just shows how long I've been away from the industry. Seems like a load of BS to me. Might make sense if you're getting hired as a cubical grunt but maybe that's not the kind of work you're looking for. If they ask those kinds of questions then you should gently refuse to answer on the grounds that you're not in competition with ChatGTP. Tell them that you want real work that requires real thinking. My two cents (might not even be worth that much, heh).

[rhelz]

As long as companies keep interviewing us as if we were ChatGPT, we'll have to be good at answering leetcode-style questions