Don't despair. I have decades worth of experiencing in a variety of operational environments and when I interview I don't ask any LeetCode questions. Why? Because those aren't the problems I have that I need you to solve. Honestly, what I'm looking for are what a lot of developers brush off:
1. Team player. Modern development is a team sport. Bonus points if you've actually played a team sport so that you have an understanding of team dynamics and how to work with a team to achieve goals. A lot of people still think software development is a career for loners.
2. Good communicator. Developers interact with multiple business groups, multiple technical groups within the organization and multiple technical groups outside of the organization. You have to know how to communicate effectively with each of those groups - who all have varying technical backgrounds and understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. I'm not saying you have to be extroverted to be a modern software developer, but you can't be so introverted that interacting and engaging with others is difficult for you.
3. Big picture understanding (abstract thinking). A successful developer needs to be able to traverse several layers of abstraction. The people who can't do that well can't see the forest through the trees. They get lost in code and can't think about the abstract things the code is implementing and how those things interact with one another. They get lost.
You know what I don't care about? How well you do LeetCode exercises. I have some great people I've hired onto my team and I have no idea how well they can do LeetCode exercises because those aren't the problems we have to solve.
1. Team player. Modern development is a team sport. Bonus points if you've actually played a team sport so that you have an understanding of team dynamics and how to work with a team to achieve goals. A lot of people still think software development is a career for loners.
2. Good communicator. Developers interact with multiple business groups, multiple technical groups within the organization and multiple technical groups outside of the organization. You have to know how to communicate effectively with each of those groups - who all have varying technical backgrounds and understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. I'm not saying you have to be extroverted to be a modern software developer, but you can't be so introverted that interacting and engaging with others is difficult for you.
3. Big picture understanding (abstract thinking). A successful developer needs to be able to traverse several layers of abstraction. The people who can't do that well can't see the forest through the trees. They get lost in code and can't think about the abstract things the code is implementing and how those things interact with one another. They get lost.
You know what I don't care about? How well you do LeetCode exercises. I have some great people I've hired onto my team and I have no idea how well they can do LeetCode exercises because those aren't the problems we have to solve.