During my undergrad (Computer Science) when I took Algorithms and Data structures the instructors and TA's all emphasized the importance of that course, especially during job interviews. They reminded us to keep our assignments as something to come back and practice on and expand for interviews. At that time it didn't sink in completely but now understanding the interview process for any software engineering job, its spot on advice.

@princeofyahudah

Жыл бұрын

Rare TA W

Build projects so that the HR glances over it and rejects your resume cause I have only 1 year experience in angular instead of 2. Hiring is hard in any fields but it's straight up broken in tech, I feel like most people got their jobs because they were present in the right place at the right time, yes skill matters but again being at the right place at the right time matters even more.

@flossless200

Жыл бұрын

just lie and put 2. if you have "the equivalent skills of a 2 year experienced person", because of your side projects and such, they will never find out you lied because you can back up that claim with how you talk tech, and do technical questions.

@ImLure

Жыл бұрын

@@flossless200 exactly! Every project you do should be in some way a Segway into understanding (not mastering) a piece of the every growing list of tech. Don’t know typescript? NodeJS Server or React/NextJS project Don’t know docker or kubernetes? Build a web server or a system that needs portability like a trading bot Don’t know DevOps or IaC? Add terraform to your project The list goes on, and when you finish, bump up the years and sharpen your talk because 9/10 with most of the people you’ll be working with are bullshitters as well. That’s basically corporate America… who can put bullshit the other in a game of charades

@StfuSiriusly

Жыл бұрын

yep, maybe small companies care about your projects but big faang companies dont care at all. The sad truth is you need leetcode. Maybe back 10 years ago when he was interviewing you could get away with just knowing your data structures.

@michaellong2439

5 күн бұрын

all I can say is that I got my first job from a weird coincidentally reference that my boss turned out to be the dad of someone I had a class with in college, and my second job was gotten from a referral from someone that I interviewed with years prior that I just so happened to ask if they have an opening, and they sent me to their own mom who was hiring a dev.

me after being stuck on leetcode easy problem

well the interview process made it so that if you can't do the leetcode questions u can't make it to the next stage. It's not like people want to only study that, thats what employers ask.

@TonyMetal

Жыл бұрын

Yep. I understand the video's point but employers kind of force us to study leetcode in order to THEN be able to show them the personal projects.

Having done a bunch of interviews recently, I'm lucky if the interviewer has even glanced at my resume, let alone at my github. Leetcode is weighed much higher than any public github repos, at least in my anecdotal experience. I'm not convinced most employers even care about repos on your github, despite it corresponding much more closely with your work output than any artificial algorithm question.

@dumbfailurekms

Жыл бұрын

its like this guy made this video because he wants people to fail interviews lol

@kwiky5643

11 ай бұрын

Dude the title is the most classic clickbait ever, like it’s some eye catching shit to get some views, don’t expect real advice from him « OMG LEETCODE IS MID 😱😱!!! » of course you’re gonna click

@flogzer0

11 ай бұрын

he might as well have made a video that says beauty is on the inside.. It isn't a net positive for society to lie about reality.

@scythazz

9 ай бұрын

It is just he has like 20 years of experience and is pretty much out of touch on how interviewing is done nowadays. He can get any tech job he wants due based on his past experience and projects and he thinks everyone can do the same as him. Like when was the last time he applied for a job and went through a 5 to 7 round interview process honestly... @@dumbfailurekms

@rickraydubs

Ай бұрын

Same lol

I started doing leetcode about a month ago, it's pretty good for memorizing the standard library and common algorithms imo. I find myself relying less on the language server now because leetcode has conditioned me to write code that compiles/works first try. It's also nice for practicing specific skills like bit manipulation when you don't have project ideas involving that skill. Definitely agree that a project is better for employability/learning "real programming" though

In a perfect world yes but in reality GRIND THE FUCK OUT OF LEET CODE. My last 4 interviews were literally word for word Leet Code Hard problems lmao, i know they were because they were on my list of problems to work through but I underestimated the stupidity of these interviews and did not think they'd actually have the audacity to ask that in a 45min interview. Spotify was the funniest one because although i had a working solution, it wasn't the most optimal one and when i asked interviewer out of curiosity what the solution was, she couldn't answer coherently either lmao. The face the guy made who was shadowing her as she tried to work through it was priceless. didn't get the job, they pulled the position when their stock crashed lol.

@MaxFung

5 ай бұрын

sounds like you dodged a bullet my guy!!! lol had a similar experience at my doordash screening, question was HARD and there was not enough time

@John-po9wz

5 ай бұрын

​@@MaxFung Big fucking time, I 100% would have been laid off by the end of the year like most of their work force because they thought giving 100million+ contracts to podcasters was a good idea lmao. in the same interview cycle DoorDash also asked a word for word leet code medium question. the funniest part about doordash though is in one of the interviews, mind you i'm black, the engineer with a straight face asked me how important is diversity in a workplace to you... pure comedy

@bobanmilisavljevic7857

4 ай бұрын

​@@John-po9wz you should have trolled them and told them they are doing an unsatisfactory job and they need even more diversity

@Turalcar

6 күн бұрын

Around 2011 I had a job interview that was basically a TopCoder SRM.

Bruh I interviewed at Airbnb once and they asked me a convex hull question 😭💀

@darkopz

9 ай бұрын

The only reason I’d ask that question is to see your ability to talk through the process of solving it. Even if you didn’t solve it, if you tried, asked questions, accepted input and pivoted, that would put you above the rest.

@zhandanning8503

19 сағат бұрын

@@darkopz my dumbass asking "what is a convex hull?" fully embracing "no dumb questions"

Was waiting for this video.

You need projects AND ability to solve difficult interview questions. You should never ignore either. Sure leetcode might not be all that but we can't ignore the reality that most large tech companies use DSA questions to filter candidates. Projects get you the interview, practicing leetcode can help you pass the interview.

In the HPC field (supercomputers) we also prioritize peoples understanding of data types and algorithms. A raising issue for us is actually "leetcoders" as they often deem themself more skillfull than what they actually are. Where i work for example all of us can make operative systems from scratch as solo projects and some workers use this systems as their daily drivers. The issue with leetcode (while it does have uses) is that it does not give you the ability to see the inner workings of a system from above. Whatever "string" you pull most people are condemed to halt or crash the system. However if you can follow the flow of data, you can make changes very easily without error as the data flow is an absolute truth.

Thank you for all of your videos

I second this approach.

I can't agree to this though. Once I transitioned from the last job I had, I already had a nice portfolio under my belt and yet I still had to struggle through interview processes and still had to do live coding/initial coding tasks which also involve some leet code crap

thank you for this

Wow. I needed that.

Code challenges in general are very small scale I think. Actual tasks at a job are usually stuff that you take a couple of days to a week to finish, and that's when you are up n running and know the systems pretty well. Home assignments for technical interviews that are customized to the client is usually a little more representative, but as Prime points out just build stuff that works and solves a real world problem (even if you are the only user). That's worth 10x any generalized test.

Sraight to the point with short but solid justification. Nice :)

Good stuff! Short and sweet. Good nugget of wisdom.

This is gold! Now this just needs to sink in the industry at large...

Earth would be a better place without leetcode.

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

i think i could agree with this

@blazze_

Жыл бұрын

I’d rather do LeetCode than answer trivial Java questions.

@tejeshreddy6252

Жыл бұрын

@@blazze_ they're not mutually exclusive buddy. And both are bad and not the only options

@shivamkumarz

Жыл бұрын

As a mediocre developer who is about to get replaced by AI, I couldn't agree more

@balajiMurugesan-sv2ly

5 ай бұрын

No doubt about that

That is also 1000 times harder to do

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

that is the point. anyone can crank out some mids on leetcode, but its HARD to make a project that people want to use, that issues have been filed, that things are happening. it means you are up with the times and able to foresee what devs need.

Be on the same wavelength as the product manager but at the same time show how valuable of an asset you are to contributing the technical solutions to any said product.

i am first year cs student , and i 'm starting the grind 75 problems , its a challenge for me to complete these challenges during this summer but i find its fun , i figured out as a first year cs student its worth investing all my time on it because it gives me a good understanding of why data structure and algorithmes are made , and i can understand better why we should learn data structure and use these concepts , ofc doing 1000 problems is much but maybe ill keep practicing these challenges weekly since i found it is fun to solve

@flogzer0

11 ай бұрын

I spent a decade of my career writing software that thousands of people used and could barely read my code after a long weekend. If you aren't a prodigy this is a life long journey

@ossemadaoud3065

11 ай бұрын

@@flogzer0 thanks for the reality check 😂

Good point

Pro Tip. I can smell the bathroom ramen from here.

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

DAMN

"Don't be dickin' around on LeetCode forever, okay?" - best

I mean, it's useful for interviewing mostly, but I'd say that's it

Hey prime, if you were to interview for another company today (as the candidate) for a software position, would you study leetcode beforehand? Knowing that there is a technical interview in the process?

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

Personally, I would not. I know enough about algorithms to usually get through those interviews. A base level understanding can really help things

@cherloire7978

Жыл бұрын

@@ThePrimeTimeagen That's fair enough. I understand most data structures and algorithm patterns, I guess I gotta just practice more to really learn how and where to apply them, so I can get to your level 😁

A. You are extremely lucky and the company skips algo + system-design and they rather see your open source, get hired. B. You are unlucky and have to do stupid algo + system-design + garbage, then get hired. 90% of the times is B.

@scythazz

9 ай бұрын

It would even say is like 99%. Mostly when I see A happening, it from some no name startup company or lower tier companies that do not really have the resources to set up a 5 to 7 round interview process. Hedge funds and FAANG are gonna test you stupid algos and system design. It is what it is. Also, companies that do A rarely pay well.

leetcode is unfortunately still necessary for many jobs...even senior roles will still expect some DSA knowledge, but you can focus more on building your portfolio as you become more senior

People who have little to no idea about programming think that the language is the most important skill to have as a programmer, while the truth is that understanding technologies and their ecosystems is the most important knowledge a programmer can have. Good for you if you can solve the hardest coding problems using the newest language features, but this is not even 5% of what you will do as a software engineer and if you don´t know how to make your code interact with rest of the system, your knowledge is basically useless.

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

f a c t s

@tanthole0306

Жыл бұрын

@@ThePrimeTimeagen this is what I always tell my younger fellows.

At my work we don't even do these. It's just a waste of interview time. Interviews should be a conversation. We talk about the candidate's past projects, decisions that were made, problems that had to be overcome and what it's like to work here. That said we do have a basic coding test before the interview that's pretty much fizz buzz just to avoid wasting time on the 90% of applicants that say they have 20 years experience but somehow can't write hello world.

Absolutely hated standardized testing exams like SAT and the like; lc and aggressive useless toy problems feel exactly the same to me. I hope frontend teams will reconsider their hiring process and prioritize portfolios moving forward...

If this calendar I’m building when it’s live to the public has actual daily humon interaction, ie people are going to actually book trips with it, is that also what you mean by “something built that’s public”?

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

This is something you can point to. It's something that people will understand what it takes to build

@fdimb

Жыл бұрын

No, it means that the code is on a public platform like GitHub where other developers can interact. But of course having a public-facing app that generates traffic is super relevant too

@TomoFromEarth

Жыл бұрын

@@ThePrimeTimeagen giggity broham

The OA I have in a week aint gonna be looking at my projects bro

I should definetly put some utilities I wrote on open source. I'm just not sure how to get people to actually use them.

I agree with you but that being said, FANG companies, for ex Google is ONLY asking leetcode-ish questions. You can't clear these interviews just based on the general knowledge or without solving problems on any similar platforms. This means the way Google is conducting interviews is shit, but for someone who wants to get in, thats the only choice. Also, with 5 years of experience as a software dev, I never had to use BST or graphs anywhere, but general knowledge about deeper concepts have been more useful.

Real question, how do you make an oss that people actually like and use? Most of us are not gonna go out and invent the next rails

I use leetcode to warm up or even go to codewars for warm up on standard library functions. But after that I just build projects. I really don't care if i can reverse a binary search tree. LIke i know them well enough to think my way through the problem. even if it's wrong my theory will be correct. I'd rather build back ends in TS or golang. Just know your Data structures really well. Building projects will allow you to think through problems.

@ivan3584

8 ай бұрын

codewars >>>>> letcode, on letcode the editor is a fucking joke, especially for JS, few methods not working and they still push for use 1985 loops methods. is phatetic

What path would you recommend someone new to algorithms and data structure to take?

good take

Ruffled some feathers.

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

LETS GO

Leetcode problems have never made me feel such imposter syndrome/lack of capability in my entire career as a developer. Thank you for sharing this

Theory is great if you can code, but if you can’t understand fundamental architecture patterns like delegates, proxies, or pipelines to name a few, you’re just causing analysis paralysis. However at the same time don’t go putting patterns on flash cards. It’s engineering. If you want an overview you install a balcony. If you want to lighten it up you install a window.

I literally had a technical interview just a hour ago and will agree here but will add : You should know where and when to use certain data structs I dont think I did too well but I know that I would have done better if I knew the what, when and why of my data structs. Learn them well.

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

Being able to use data structures effectively is worth so much more than being able to solve the city scape problem

It is a good screener for talent on higher levels with a lot of false negative but no false positives at all. So top companies can make a good uae of it when you got 100 candidates and only need to hire 5 - it makes perfect sense to give them hard level leetcode and take the 5 who passed. They will learn whatever toturial needed in order to do in the actual day to day job easilly

@killerdroid99

5 ай бұрын

The problem is that every other company nowadays asks for leetcode style questions even recently established startups

My project has 4 stars lol, and that's including my own. If I could build something that is worth 800 stars I doubt I would have to be going crazy looking for a job

@irdi3176

Жыл бұрын

drop the link

800 stars, damn I thought my 30 stars project was cool lmao

Hit the nail on the head. No matter how good someone is at these algorithmic questions, it all falls apart when they can't produce software that is well put together, properly tested and most important of all: solved a problem they care about.

@cyropox8235

Жыл бұрын

It doesn't matter if you're the best sde in the world. If you can't get through the technical round of Interviews because you're not good at algorithmic questions, then your skills as an sde will never get shown.

@rochakgupta6116

Жыл бұрын

@@cyropox8235 In my experience, you would be better off staying away from the companies that only ask leetcode style questions in the interviews as they would just suck to work for anyway.

@cyropox8235

Жыл бұрын

@@rochakgupta6116 nearly every FAANG and FAANG-adjacent company does this. Most large companies will give you a take-home hacker rank test as the first interview round, which you need to pass to move to on-sites.

@rochakgupta6116

Жыл бұрын

@@cyropox8235 So, why do you wanna go into FAANG and FAANG-adjacent companies? Is there anything wrong with joining a smaller company, learning the ropes, becoming a senior and and then moving on to a FAANG or FAANG-adjacent company?

@princeofyahudah

Жыл бұрын

@@rochakgupta6116 Mainly job prospects and future salary trajectory. Software salaries can be a bimodal distribution so getting into a Big N earlier in your career is a great boon.

But I enjoy doing leetcode...

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

So do it because you love

Based

This video is supported by Tramontin knives, a straight and precise cut on the problem!!

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

i think this is a good thing :)

You need both... It's grind feast, you need leetcode to not only knows to solve a lot of tevhnical detail. But also to solidify in an standard way any project you want to make. If you make a project not standard enough, guys won't look too much into your code. They don't have time for that, and they will assume you will make code difficult to read for other devs in your team.

I keep forgetting about data structures.

I think the whole "you have a good project" is an unreasonable approach - those kinds of things involve a LOT of luck and chance. A much more reasonable approach, that follows the same idea though, is: contribute to good open source projects. This way you show multiple things, that you can work together with other people and that you can solve real world problems and introduce new features.

@rickraydubs

Ай бұрын

I had been told by a technical recruiter at a solid company that open source contribution looks like 'actual' work. Even freelancing Upwork, Fiverr, etc., can serve as real world experience.

I used segment trees and DP on multiple interviews at unicorns and prop trading firms (who are paying $400k+ to new grads). I'd say it's quite worth grinding leetcode depending on where you're applying.

@gd-gg9kr

Жыл бұрын

Segment tree in interview lol

@anshab16

11 ай бұрын

How are you supposed to solve segment tree problems in an interview?

@jfmhunter375

11 ай бұрын

@@anshab16 practice. i've done 1300+ problems, you dont need to be very high on codeforces to be able to blaze through all kinds of interview questions easily

I get your point. "If you want to be an author, then write...". If you want to be a software dev, then dev some really soft wares. BUT I also see a bunch of people that write really bad code, can only do super simple stuff and lack problem solving skills. I've mostly done CodeWars, and not Leetcode. But my experience is that it makes me a way better developer, because I get good at problem solving. Some projects, like writing my first text editor, was sooooooooooooooooooo much easier, due to my experience doing CodeWars "katas".

This is true

👏👏

The issue is that those "annoying overly-complex" problems are EXACTLY what a lot of companies ask in their interviews. Of course doing projects is way more educational and better for your career than just leetcoding... But if you find yourself in a hard interview, those 900 leetcode problems suddenly matter a lot more than the projects that no one cares about at that moment.

@flogzer0

11 ай бұрын

The guy has been at netflix for a decade because he doesn't want to spend a few weeks on leetcode.

@scythazz

9 ай бұрын

Also, you don't even need to do 900 leetcode questions to prep for an interview really. I usually do grind75 and then a few more which amounts to about 100 questions and that is usually enough of a refresher for me to tackle coding interviews.

@yasirmehmood4295

9 ай бұрын

you are correct, leetcode is the god of all software houses in my country. they worship leetcode problems more than projects or anything else

@ivan3584

8 ай бұрын

is 2023 i have seen kiddos solve interviews using chatgpt on 2nd pc's, and honestly nobody really give a fuck about those interviews anymore, my last interview was like: what yu do if u have 5 minutes for solve this problem... and i: i google it or i chagpt that, and guess.. i got the job

I love you daddy prime.

I agree Leetcode doesn't get your foot in the door, only your resume and projects/experience can do that but Leetcode sure as hell will get you through the rest of the way once you have your foot in.

Max Howell (the creator of Homebrew) famously was rejected from Google for failing some technical interview puzzle Everything you need to know after this video

The HR manager should have been Karen Rustivimsky instead of Karen Rustivinsky.

I love side channel

Shout out to Exercism… it’s fun and a great place to learn new programming languages!

The worst part about programming jobs is that there are no rules, some companies prefer employees that are masters in data structures, some other still uses leetcode/hackerrank tests, some others clicks on your github link, some others doesn't give a shit about it, and you as a developer has to have time to do EVERYTHING as you don't know which the company will ask on an interview....

Are American companies still interviewing with these weird algorithm questions and requiring degrees? (I assume "leetcode" is related to one or the other)

@StfuSiriusly

Жыл бұрын

if you want 200k plus salaries yeah. Usually faang ask those kind of questions but now smaller companies have started

@Mankepanke

Жыл бұрын

@@StfuSiriusly damn, that sucks 😞

What are better alternatives for help?

@raenastra

Жыл бұрын

I think the advice here is: still do LeetCode, but just enough to get comfortable with the data structures he listed. Spend the rest of the time building things

I understand why people hate leetcode but I prefer it over take home projects 10/10 times

I might have to give up on programming. I’m too dumb to solve leetcode problems

Sounds like Netflix tech interviews are easy hh good Intel :p

THE KING AGREES THANK YOU PRIME

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

YAYAY!

👍🏿

Leet code plays yasuo

W take

Big tech filters everyone out based on leetcode, once you make it past the initial leetcode stage, then all this extra stuff matters. Leetcode is dumb, it is only relevant to your job if you are in some kinda research field anyway. It really just filters out who is and isn't willing to grind pointless problems.

In truth, this is a precious gem of knowledge, a treasure beyond measure.

What's the name?

@streettrialsandstuff

9 ай бұрын

The Leetcodegen

I like your opinion but i didn't expect it from you for some reason 😅

Leet's not forget that their premium plan is $39/mo iirc

@minciNashu

Жыл бұрын

It's much cheaper for the long run subscription, but yeah they're milking people who just need it for a month or two before interviews.

@scythazz

9 ай бұрын

You don't really need their premium plan though. They have like around 1000 questions for free. More than enough honestly....

your projects & YOE will get you to the door but leetcode will get you through the door

Aight covering fundamental concepts is more fun than solving bunch of time eating leet code problems. I'mma do it

Can't pass the interview without leetcode though.. unfortunately

Remember when someone said Rust is mid

what's mid precious?

i can't solve easy questions in leetcode.. even thow i just finished full course java programming + oop + DS

@rickraydubs

Ай бұрын

You need to make a ton of your own projects, stuff you came up with, LC is just grind (useful for many job interviews), but it is not something you learn from knowing basic structures. LC is just like sudoku to me, solving puzzles for the sake of solving puzzles, but you will get asked sometimes to do these stupid things lol.

I accept I am stupid.... Because it's really hard for me

@rickraydubs

Ай бұрын

Something being challenging does not make you stupid my friend.

projects

How many people even have 800 stars on github?

So lucky to have your cubicle right by the toilet.👍😋

don't know what to say about this.

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

What do you mean? Tell me in discord. Did I do something funny?

It's also mid because leetcode doesn't let you use nim

Isn't leetcode or advent of code just single functions you end up writing? Not a working product.

lmao, so what will you say to peeps who are doing CP for interview round and dont know sh*t about tech?

All your suggestions are so TRUE unless you are from India :)

How to learn the basics of data structure and algorithm without leetcode ?

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

yeah... its not that crazy

@tanthole0306

Жыл бұрын

I learned all data structures and algorithms stuff from Wikipedia, and I cracked several interviews without grinding leetcode. So, yeah, wikipedia is a good friend here.

omg i found it

@ThePrimeTimeagen

Жыл бұрын

LETS GO

Sounds like a balancing act. Do enough problems to deeply understand the data structures, but not so much that you take away time from robust projects.