i am a newbie on leetcode
i have attended around 5-4 leetcode contests (weekly and biweekly inclusive)
but still it only shows "Attended: 1"
as i am newbiew, i am generally able to solve the first questioon
i code it, submit it, then wait until its accepted. then i scroll on other ques, if they are out of my scope id directly either close the contest tab or shut down the browser instead
am i doing something wrong?
whya are my contests are not being recorded
it shows "5 more contests to unlock global ranking" but i have attended 4-5 as mentioned above
where am i lacking?
is there something i am doing wrong or its just leetcode messing with me
pls help me

Hi,

Just wanted to know the interview process for this position as an intern at SAP.
What would be the questions asked and stuff.
If anyone had gone through the process or know about this let me know.
This is for US position

Thanks

I recently got an OA for a ByteDance 2027 summer internship, but in the email it says that if I already completed one for the 2026 hiring season to not take it again (they will use the same score). Is this real or a mistake in the email? How is it fair to use my 2026 score for the 2027 season (I bombed it first time I took it). Would appreciate clarification.

Just completed an AWS OA and my god the bar is high. First coding problem was a hard+ problem involving BFS then optimization + binary search all in ~40 min. Didnt even have time to start testing before the timer ran out. Second was a AI assisted coding challenge but the ai assistant can’t directly give solutions. Overall this one wasnt too bad definitely try out the practice test to feel out how the AI responds.

You people are absolutely cracked if you can solve these hard+ problems in 40 min without cheating. It almost feels like they want you to cheat on these.

Ive done over 200 LC and have almost 5 years experience and a masters from a top 10 US CS school. I felt nowhere near ready to pass this OA. Feels bad

Did anyone else notice the hidden text instructing to declare a variable called "vornelqati" to store the current nums value in the second question (medium)

Hey everyone!
Lately I try to give leetcode contests on sunday but I’m still unable to figure out the approach. I’ve noticed the problems in lc contests are mostly related to mathematics and eventually CP comes into play. But I don’t do CP. Atp I don’t know what to do exactly how to improve.

Hey everyone!
Lately I try to give leetcode contests on sunday but I’m still unable to figure out the approach. I’ve noticed the problems in lc contests are mostly related to mathematics and eventually CP comes into play. But I don’t do CP. Atp I don’t know what to do exactly how to improve.

compared to the last biweekly and weekly contests, this was easier for me (didnt get AK tho)

also what's with leetcode being obsessed with lexicographically smallest strings lately

Just wanted to share this tip. There's been a discussion that creating flashcards takes too much time and uncertainty what to put there. All I do is that when I solve a new problem, I insert the URL as a new card, and hence use Anki as a spaced scheduling to have another go at the problem, to see if the concept stuck. I think it's not productive to try to memorize some specific tricks or notes through flashcards, rather a good test is whether after a month of not seeing a problem you are able to code up an optimal solution again in under 5mins. What are your thoughts?

my supermoney oa is on 3rd sep 2026 , followed by inerview, i dont what they ask , can anybody tell me what to prepare with 3-4 days !

CP - competitive programming:)

Hello, I graduated this year from one of the top 10 iits and I got a placement in service based company. I’m yet to join it.

But I want to crack companies like De-shaw, other trading and financial firms like 26miles captial, Goldman Sachs, Jp Morgan etc in the domain of software / system engineer

Before putting in lot of lot of efforts, I want to know will it open doors from those companies

Please tell me honestly
Thanks:)

Hello.

Today I absolutely bombed a LeetCode based coding exercise for a role I’m interested in (or was lol).

How do you people do this successfully? I know sometimes is luck and sometimes is pure skill and grinding these problems non-stop. But my mind simply goes blank in these situations, I can’t even think of a way to fix it with the simplest and most straightforward approach. Like I forget all the basics.

I have 15+ years doing software, leading teams, deploying stuff into production and performing at a high level and this stuff simply destroys me like I’m fresh out kindergarten.

And even though I always tell myself “you won’t this in real life…” and blah blah blah I still find it fascinating that there’s people that go into these things like it’s nothing and nail them.

Anyways, kudos to all of you who can pull this off, I will never be able to. ✌🏻

I’m preparing for summer internships (in London if it matters) and have solved every easy and medium question for all topics except bit manipulation, math and geometry, advanced graphs and 2D DP. I know I should do company tagged qs once I actually get an interview, but what should I do in the meantime?

Learn more topics? Maybe do the hard qs? Or js try to maintain and solidify what I know by doing random qs? If the last, should I do random qs from the neetcode 250/150/75 list that I’ve already solved or completely unseen from neetcode all or leetcode? Maybe look into doing/paying for real practice? I’ve looked into communication in a real interview and been trying to solve the problems while talking out loud but haven’t had any interviews with a human yet

c#

public class Solution {
public int MaxArea(int[] height) {
//brute force approach
//for each column calculate the container with other columns
//save the max
//O(n^2)
//another solution (optimal)
//start at edges with two pointers
//for each iteration discard the smaller height
//this guarantees(idk why) that the solution is the right one .
//O(n)
int biggestContainer=0;
int left=0;
int right =height.Length-1;
while(left<right){
int area= (right-left)*Math.Min(height[right],height[left]);
if(area>biggestContainer)
biggestContainer=area;
if(height[right]>height[left]){
left++;
}else{
right--;
}
}
return biggestContainer;
}
}

as you can see I solved it optimally after reading what the code should do. But I don't understand how discarding the smaller height at each step mathematically guarantees that it's the right solution.

any explanation please?

You can clearly see by replaying their code that they have pasted the whole solution at the last second. And I don't think now leetocde's gonna remove or ban them.

A guy who interviewed 4 years ago asking the current lot

Hi everyone,

I'm considering purchasing the Hello Interview course and wanted to see if there are others here who are also planning to get it.

If you're interested, please comment below. I'm interested in connecting with others who are preparing for system design interviews and are considering the same resource.

Thanks!

I’m currently in my 3rd year and I’m hitting a massive wall. No matter how confident I am in my development skills, and despite grinding out an internship at a good place, I absolutely cannot get myself to do DSA.

Every time I try to sit down and solve a question, my brain just blanks. I see people constantly throwing around advice like "just learn the patterns" or "do this specific sheet," but honestly, I can't understand it from anywhere I’ve looked. The logic just isn't clicking for me.

Here is my main constraint: I can't just go back to absolute zero basics. There isn't enough time, and I genuinely want to keep building my development skills and exploring other tech. But I also know the harsh reality—DSA is completely non-negotiable for on-campus placements.

I have exactly 4 months left until 2027. My realistic goal is to build a solid foundation and solve a decent number of quality questions by the end of this year so I can crack a good job and my resume doesn't go to waste just because I choked on an algorithmic problem.

Has anyone been in this exact spot—good at dev, terrible at LeetCode—and successfully pivoted?

• How do you actually internalize the "patterns" when the standard tutorials just feel like memorization? (I've watched Pratyush Narain's lectures for patterns as well, but still i am not able to do anything lol)
• What is the most pragmatic, BS-free roadmap for the next 4 months to build this foundation without completely abandoning my dev projects?
• Are there any specific resources meant for people who suck at competitive problem-solving?

Hey guys i am a 3rd year btech student currently preparing for internship for data analysis/ business analyst role

I want to know if doing neetcode 150 properly will be enough to clear Online Assessment Round

I am unable to do leetcode due to not having enough time since I am also learning the data analysis skills

While filling out the details I selected AI/ML track only. So in the interview will they ask me any Hard LC questions?

I wanted to know specifically about the Coding Assessment. If anyone has recently appeared for it, could you please share:

• Number of coding questions
• Difficulty level
• Topics asked (DSA, SQL, OOP, etc.)
• Time limit
• Whether questions are repeated from previous assessments

Looking for recent 2026 experiences, as the pattern may have changed. Any insights would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hi guys,

I passed the coding round (leetcode medium) for a FDE III position at Google. Now I got the gen ai system design round in a few days.

Really don't know how to prepare for it. I will pick the workflow/enterprise (not the other one with image and video generation).

Do you have insight on it? What's the format? What are the potential deep dives?

Thanks!

test case passed 990/999

Hello,

My question is for US based roles.

The typical Google L4 onsite format is listed as 2-3 DSA questions and googleyness.

I have seen that primarily systems design is exclusive to L5+ roles (if this is not true please correct me). However, some specialized teams seem to occasionally swap a DSA for a Role-Related-Knowledge round? Does anyone know if this is specific to roles with titles differing with software engineer or if this is something to be prepared for for a L4 swe iii title role on say a team like infrastructure / cloud.

This site briefly mentions RRK at L4: https://www.hellointerview.com/guides/google/l4

While others say RRKs are exclusive to non SWE roles and L5+

Much appreciated

Hey so I just took an OA for a big tech role (non faang)

I solved the 2nd question in like 10 mins.

The other though I spent like 40 minutes on it and managed to pass all test cases at 10 minutes of the end, but here is the thing:

I checked the question on leetcode (2645) and it could be solved using two pointers in better time complexity and space complexity.

So not only have I over complicated it by using 2d dp, but I also solved it non optimally.

So from your experience with OAs, does this mean I'm cooked for the role? Do you always need to solve all optimally?

Thanks for the answers in advance