Thank you, I'm definitely not giving up on the LC I just need to figure out how to build a solid foundation for it.
As for career, I really enjoy building products. At work I've been the lead on a few end to end full stack projects that I'm very proud of. I like to set up projects and then get a lot of pride feeling knowing that in the future other developers will be extending this base project as it grows.
I am trying really hard to find a job where it involves understanding the customer and business needs (I really like to get on calls with our product manager/designer, and then work together to develop and test the solution), and building the best product. My favorite feeling is shipping something that people find useful, so idk which companies or what roles would really let me shine best there. One of my goals is to get better at networking, to see if I can get some job like a technical co-founder of a startup I think that would be a dream for me.
If you know anything let me know, I'll check it out. Sorry for blurting out a lot of details I guess I'm just feeling defensive still after that mock interview lol. I feel like how can I be a co founder when I cannot even pass a Leetcode?
Working through Skiena's Algorithm Design Manual [0] would be a good start and/or watching his lecture series on Youtube [1].
Other great books include Elements of Programming Interviews [2] which comes in Java, C++, and Python flavors.
It can help to focus on a smaller subset of Leetcode problems to learn the tricks that underlie most of them. Neetcode [3] is a good collection of those problems on which you could focus your time and efforts.
I don't think it's realistic to expect to do well on Leetcode without practicing the above skills to some degree, so I wouldn't be hard on yourself if it's been years since you even looked at the material.
Don’t give up. The parent comment is very much inline with how I feel. I was in your shoes a couple months ago and passed interviews at 3 faangs. Just grind the leetcodes. Course are not the right way imo. Repetition and pattern matching will take you there.
As for career, I really enjoy building products. At work I've been the lead on a few end to end full stack projects that I'm very proud of. I like to set up projects and then get a lot of pride feeling knowing that in the future other developers will be extending this base project as it grows.
I am trying really hard to find a job where it involves understanding the customer and business needs (I really like to get on calls with our product manager/designer, and then work together to develop and test the solution), and building the best product. My favorite feeling is shipping something that people find useful, so idk which companies or what roles would really let me shine best there. One of my goals is to get better at networking, to see if I can get some job like a technical co-founder of a startup I think that would be a dream for me.
If you know anything let me know, I'll check it out. Sorry for blurting out a lot of details I guess I'm just feeling defensive still after that mock interview lol. I feel like how can I be a co founder when I cannot even pass a Leetcode?