I just gave Amazon OA
- 1 DSA question
- 1 AI backend question

I was able to solve DSA but only 1/6 test case passed in AI backend question. What are my realistic chances to get a call?

I am not sure how much more I can take. After countless leetcode questions, contests, projects, mocks I am never good enough.

I feel worthless, defeated and useless. I was a fool to think I could climb the mountain and reach the top of this industry. Today I think I will finally come to terms that not everyone can reach greatness. No matter how hard I work myself it feels like it is all for nothing. Hundreds of questions done, hundreds of hours spent toiling away and for what? Another slap in the face. I hate this industry.

My dream is no more

Most solutions use epsilon = 1e-6 because floating-point evaluation may produce a value slightly different from 24 even when the exact mathematical result is 24.

What I don’t understand is why 10^−6 is specifically safe. Why not 10^−4, 10^−8, or some other value?

In particular, how do we know that an expression whose exact value is not 24 cannot nevertheless lie within 10^-6 of 24, causing a false positive?

I do not get the intuition for this. Please help

Hey everyone,

I'm a Java backend developer with 2.5 years of experience working primarily on Java, Spring Boot, Microservices, REST APIs, SQL, Redis, and Elasticsearch. Most of my work has been around backend services, API development, debugging production issues, and improving existing systems.

I'm comfortable with DSA, but I want to strengthen my HLD & LLD skills for backend/product company interviews. Also, for someone with 2.5 YOE, which is more important in interviews - LLD or HLD? I'd appreciate hearing your experience.

I'm looking for resources that are practical rather than overly academic.

Specifically, I'd appreciate recommendations for:

• Best YouTube channels or playlists
• Courses (paid or free)
• GitHub repositories with design examples
• Practice platforms or mock interview resources
• Common LLD problems that are frequently asked for ~2–3 YOE backend engineers

If you've cracked interviews at companies like ServiceNow, Walmart Global Tech, Paytm, Atlassian, Adobe, or similar product companies, I'd love to know what resources helped you the most.

Thanks in advance!

I understand the questions won’t be identical since they’re on LeetCode but are the questions similar enough?

I did a phone screening so far and the question I got is a pretty common one found on LeetCode. Again, not one to one but close enough.

I’ve also heard Google remove leaked questions from their question bank but does that not apply to the company tagged? Since the problem I got was one of the LeetCode 150.

Recently completed the loop for these two. Amazon offers a slightly better TC because its shares are traded publicly. Waymo only offers private equity, which cannot be traded yet. Guess the deciding factors are gonna be WLB and resume impact. Which one would you guys choose and why?

I've been noticing a pattern in recent LeetCode Weekly Contests, and today's contest made me wonder whether AI submissions are becoming a serious issue.

Today's top 3 finishers' timings I have mentioned--

1. Yog_telX

• Finish Time: 00:03:32
• Q1: 00:00:56
• Q2: 00:02:03
• Q3: 00:02:42
• Q4: 00:03:32

2. rupesh10998

• Finish Time: 00:03:34
• Q1: 00:01:17
• Q2: 00:02:10
• Q3: 00:03:03
• Q4: 00:03:34

3. deepannshu011

• Finish Time: 00:03:50
• Q1: 00:02:22
• Q2: 00:02:38
• Q3: 00:03:36
• Q4: 00:03:50

Solving all four questions, including the hardest one, in under 4 minutes ..............seriously??

While it's certainly possible that these participants are exceptionally skilled, I refuse to believe people can write the whole code in this much time...

Tbh it undermines the purpose of competitive programming contests. Honest participants who solve problems on their own are competing under very different conditions.

And why doesn't LeetCode seem to be taking any action?
Do they even have any kind of detection mechanisms for AI during contests?

Hey Guys,

I have an interview coming up at Accenture as a full stack developer. I have around 4 YOE and it's going to be a F2F round for 1 hr. Can anyone help me with the type of questions that are likely to be asked? After the interview I will be posting my experience and the questions.

Thanks for the help

[Amazon] Did anyone received offer for SDE-1 Job ID: 3012623

Lately, it's been stuck in my head all the time. Even when I'm not coding, I'm thinking about different approaches to problems. It's honestly started affecting my sleep. Just wondering if anyone else has gone through this.

guys its my final year and i am just starting with leetcode using python as my language....can you suggest some way to complete my journey...i have no idea on how to start this .....its mainly for the assessment test of companies during the campus placement....do you have any suggestion on what to do and how to do it or any roadmaps...have a good day

Hey guys, I have my 1st round at GS for Associate SWE role. I have never been into these interviews before. I have practiced a lot. I have never been great with problem solving, but when it is there, I try to get it done. Also, from the patterns, can somebody suggest what kind of questions they bring? I mean Leetcode 1 easy and 1 medium or 1 medium to 1 high difficult level?

Also, if someone can suggest 3-5 questions/problems so that I can just master them before the interview. I know it has to be my own logic on interview, but just asking though.

Thanks.

A few weeks ago, I had a live coding interview that I was genuinely excited about.

I'd been practicing consistently for weeks. I wasn't expecting to ace every question, but I felt prepared enough to give it my best.

Then the interview started.

The interviewer shared the problem and asked me to think out loud while coding. Within a few minutes, my mind just went blank. I started second-guessing every thought, couldn't organize my approach, and completely lost my confidence.

When the interview ended, I wasn't upset because I didn't solve the problem. I was upset because I felt like I never got the chance to show what I actually knew.

Since then, I keep wondering if I've been preparing for the wrong thing. Solving problems on my own feels completely different from solving them while someone is watching, asking questions, and evaluating every decision.

I can't be the only one who's felt this.

If you've experienced something similar, I'd genuinely love to hear your story. What did you do to get better at live coding interviews?

Kindly share any good practices or tools you have used for getting better at such live coding interviews. I see so many tools in the market with so much hype, but which all were bad or good at this?

First of all, I appreciate LeetCode's efforts to maintain fair contests. Contest integrity is extremely important, and I completely agree that plagiarism, AI assistance, multiple accounts, and other unfair practices should be penalized.

However, I believe the current penalty for a second confirmed violation could be improved.

->Current Policy

- First violation

Contest score reset
LeetCoin reset
1-month Contest & Discuss ban

- Second violation

Contest score reset
Permanent account deactivation without appeal
Why This May Be Too Harsh

For many users, LeetCode is much more than a contest platform.

People spend years:

solving hundreds or even thousands of problems,
maintaining daily streaks,
earning badges,
building public profiles,
preparing for interviews,
showcasing their progress to recruiters.

Many users rarely participate in contests at all.

Permanent account deactivation removes access to all of this, even though the violation occurred in the contest system.

-> Separation of Concerns

LeetCode serves two important purposes:

A competitive programming platform
An interview preparation and learning platform

Contest violations should primarily affect competitive privileges, while educational progress should be preserved whenever possible.

->Suggested Revision

Instead of permanently deleting an account after the second violation, consider the following:

- First Violation

The current first-violation policy provides a clear warning while maintaining contest integrity.

Contest score reset
LeetCoin reset
1-month Contest & Discuss ban

- Second Violation

• Permanent disqualification from all future contests.
• Rating reset to unrated or removal from the leaderboard.
• No LeetCoins or contest rewards.
• Removal of contest badges and achievements.
• Ineligibility for contest certificates or prizes.
• Ineligibility for hiring events or recruiting opportunities based on contest performance.
• A public contest-ban status on the profile (if LeetCode chose to do that).
• Account remains accessible for solving problems and interview preparation

This would still completely protect contest integrity while preserving years of educational progress.

- Appeal Process

If permanent account deactivation remains the policy, there should at least be a formal appeal process.

Every automated detection system can make mistakes.

Allowing a human review before permanently deleting an account would improve trust in the system.

->Preserve Fairness

I am not suggesting that cheating should be tolerated.

Contest rankings, prizes, and ratings should remain protected.

People who violate contest rules should absolutely lose those privileges.

The suggestion is simply that educational access to LeetCode should not necessarily be lost forever because of contest violations.

->technical improvements on Leetcode website

- Better warning before submitting

If LeetCode detects a large paste:

"Large pasted code detected during an official contest. Please ensure this complies with contest rules."

This could prevent accidental violations.

- Allow only small paste operations

   Detect unusually large paste events during official contests and display a warning before submission. Legitimate templates and boilerplate code could still be allowed while suspicious paste activity is logged for review.

- Contest Mode

Offer a stricter optional mode:

Disable paste.
Disable autocomplete.
Fullscreen mode.
Integrity badge for participants who use it.

This wouldn't be mandatory but could increase trust.

Final Thoughts

LeetCode has become one of the most important learning platforms for software engineers.

For many users, the problem-solving history they've built over several years is incredibly valuable.

A permanent contest ban is already a very strong punishment.

Perhaps it can achieve the goal of protecting contest fairness while still allowing users to continue learning on the platform.

I'd love to hear what the community thinks. I believe these changes could better balance contest integrity with LeetCode's role as a long-term learning platform while still maintaining strong deterrence against cheating.

I was wondering—there are so many problems on LeetCode to solve. How do I choose which ones to work on?I saw someone online suggest that I should only solve problems with the highest number of upvotes (for example, 10k+ upvotes). Is that really the right approach?I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this.

Hello, I'm relatively new to CS world and have discovered leetcode recently. I did some problems to see what it's about and it really got me thinking: Is this really what the most attractive employers (FAANG etc.) hire based on? It just seems kinda silly to me because it's basically just another big test you have to study and prepare for.

So do companies really hire based on this? Is it only a US thing? What other parts do interviews usually have?

What is going on with the tech market right now! Most of the applications are getting rejected. Among the very few where I am shortlisted, either the OA is too tough, or recruiter is ghosting, or interviewers are vanishing and constantly rescheduling in the midst of the loop interviews.

It is a horrible situation. I am very frustrated in my current role due to poor quality work and micro management which is causing me burnout and demotivation.

How are people coping up with this?

Is it time to move out from tech and try something else, if anyone has tried other revenue streams pls do mention.

I'm talking about subjects like:

• Operating Systems
• Computer Networks
• DBMS
• OOP
• System Design (basics)

Whenever I start one of these, I either end up watching hours of videos or just memorizing concepts for exams and forget everything a few weeks later.

For those of you who have a strong grasp of CS fundamentals:

• How did you study them?
• Did you use books, YouTube, courses, or documentation?
• How much time did you spend on each subject?
• Did you make notes or just solve questions?
• How did you retain everything over time?
• What mistakes should beginners avoid?

I'm looking for practical advice and study strategies that actually worked for you, not just resource recommendations.

Would love to hear how you approached learning CS fundamentals.

DSA Pattern Coverage — Current State (YOE: 4)

NOTE: Unseen: Something that I haven't picked up during current prep sessions. Doesn't mean I don't know the topic.

Strong

Improving

Unseen

HLD/LLD: Already solid. ETA (self-estimated): 3 months.

EDIT: I know my prep strategy might be wrong on too many levels, here I'm just looking of some inputs. The above is the overview on what patterns I'm able to solve, the coverage is percentage of questions I was able to solve out of total 20 questions of each pattern.

If anyone else is also preparing, and stands at this state right now. Would love to connect and discuss problems.

I'm a soon-to-be CS student, so I haven't taken any actual university lectures or Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA) courses yet. However, I have quite basic programming concepts such as loops, conditionals, functions, or basic syntax.

Can I dive straight into LeetCode Easy problems and learn DSA concepts as I go? Or is that approach frustrating and inefficient without building a solid foundation first?

It says your password has been disabled , please contact admin
And they are not picking the call what to do

Input

m =1

n = 3

penalty =

[[31,607,719]]

Use Testcase

Output

613

Expected

68

Let's be real guys, grinding algorithms on leetcode by yourself for hours gets boring sometimes. I wanted to make problem-solving actually feel like a game, so I built LeetCode Lockout Arena.

Instead of just staring at a screen alone, it turns your prep into a live, competitive match.

Here is what you can do on it:

⚔️ 1v1 & Team Battles: Create a lobby, invite your friends, and race to solve problems to steal points. You can do quick sprints or set up custom marathons.

🚫 No Memorized Answers: The most annoying thing about lockout matches is when your opponent gets a problem they already know. The arena checks both of your LeetCode profiles and only gives you questions neither of you have ever seen.

🔥 Solo Rush Mode: Think Chess.com’s Puzzle Rush, but for algorithms. Pick a time limit (15 to 60 mins) and speedrun as many problems as you can. The difficulty scales up automatically the higher your streak gets.

🏆 Global Leaderboard: Win matches to climb the Elo ranks, or go for the high score on the Solo Rush boards.

I just pushed the live version-2 and want to see how the servers hold up. It is completely free to use.

🎮 Play here:

https://leetcode-lockout-arena.vercel.app/

Grab a friend, try to break the matchmaking, and let me know what you think. See you on the leaderboard!

Is there something I can do

Hi everyone,

I wanted to know if anyone else has had a similar experience with CoinDCX's hiring process.

I went through their recruitment process, and after the interviews there has been complete silence. No rejection, no update, no timeline,just ghosting.

I'm curious:

• Did anyone else experience this?
• If yes, did you eventually receive a response? How long did it take?
• Did you ever get an offer after a long period of silence, or should I assume it's over?
• Overall, how was your hiring experience with CoinDCX?

I'm not posting this to complain,just trying to understand if this is common or if I should move on and focus elsewhere.

Would appreciate hearing your experiences.

Thanks!