[commandersaki]

If the point isn’t to finish the task and you just want to assess their problem solving, wouldn’t you still naturally rate the person that breezes through it over the person that has to clunk through it solving it? This means this will be biased towards someone who HAPPENS to have dealt with this same problem (or memorized it).

After a few leetcode interviews this is now my technique. I just braindump style memorise problem / solutions from neetcode.io videos without attempting to solve them outright. Sure it might be enlightening to grind through the problem solving aspect, which I've tried before, but you're probably going to miss the mark trying to find the optimal solution, and memorisation is far more effective in practice, especially when faced with a unhelpful interviewer.

I've been told that this is a mark of a "bad" software engineer (even here on HN) for taking these shortcuts. While yes being a decent software engineer matters, I just don't see how these hazing ritual style interviews have a bearing on you as a developer. Memorising leetcode to pass interviews is just an application of opportunity cost.

[darepublic]

What sort of companies are testing you with leetcode. Faang or other types of companies? I have very rarely encountered these types of questions in my own experience but maybe that's a function of where I live

[commandersaki]

Nearly a decade ago, Google was. In recent years I've experienced this with Amazon, Microsoft, and TikTok.

Smaller companies have done real time programming assessments but they are not leetcode-esque.

[danjl]

If I was given a l33t code problem in an interview I would stand up, make some sort of silly comment, and walk out. That's not a company I want to work at.

[commandersaki]

At least where I live, the LC companies offer more interesting work, lateral movement, better staff amenities, and, of course -- are far more lucrative. I'd probably walk if it's just a run of the mill company trying to cargo cult the hiring process.

[firesteelrain]

I encountered it at Activision a few years ago.

[aguaviva]

Financial shops and pretentious startups tend to be quite fond of these kinds of problems as well.