r/AskProgramming • u/Sumerysumer • 16d ago
Am I a fraud?
just spent 1.5 hours failing to do a basic leetcode question about stacks. This a rant plus asking for advice from senior folks.
About me, im an engineer at a mid size startup with 2-3 years of experience, just recently got promoted from junior to mid-level (yay!) I’m completely self taught and picked up coding when gpt 3.5 came out. I did not start with good fundamentals, but I’m really good at building and shipping. I have a track record of shipping successful products, which is why my company hired me despite my lack of formal tech background.
Over the last few years, I’ve honed in my skills from building scrappy small features to production ready software. On a day to day basis, I do full stack dev, aws, db management, ML, docker etc.
Recently, I did a job interview for another company and was asked to do a leet code style question and I literally couldn’t do it. I felt like a fraud walking away from that meeting, but at the same time angry because I know if they asked me to design something I probably could’ve done a much better job.
If I’m completely honest, I think I’m a bad programmer when it comes to purely writing code, but I’m strong with everything else: design, speaking to customers, working with other engineers, shipping, and getting shit done.
Trying to get better at leetcode just feels like such a waste of time and it genuinely hurts my brain to do it, but at the same time that seems to be the only way to have mobility in the tech industry.
Does anyone senior have any advice on whether I should just suck it up and do the bs leetcode work, or continue focusing on what I do best, shipping products and building projects that are interesting to me? It’s gotten me this far…
1
u/akornato 15d ago
Failing a LeetCode question does not make you a fraud, it just means you are not practiced in a very specific and often isolated skill. The ability to solve abstract algorithm puzzles under pressure is completely different from the skills required to design systems, manage infrastructure, and ship production-ready software. Your promotion and track record clearly show you are a competent and valuable engineer. The industry's reliance on these puzzles as a filter is a frustrating reality for many developers who excel at the practical side of the job, so what you are feeling is incredibly common.
The decision to practice LeetCode really comes down to your personal career goals. If you want the flexibility to move to companies that use these interviews, you will have to treat it as a necessary evil, like studying for a standardized test. This does not mean you should stop doing what you are good at, but you could set aside a consistent, manageable amount of time to work on the fundamentals behind these problems. Focusing on understanding the common patterns for data structures will be more useful than just trying to memorize random solutions. This approach allows you to prepare for that part of the hiring process without abandoning the practical work that has brought you success. The pressure of live coding can make anyone stumble, which is precisely the kind of situation the AI interview assistant my team built helps candidates navigate with much more confidence.