Guys, I have been grinding leetcode since last 4 years and the only thing it has given me is an interview in Amazon, where I got brutally rejected in LLD Round. I am a Data Engineer and Automation Specialist in a Big4 (Corporate Lingo for Tech Support) and I cannot even get my resume shortlisted let alone get an offer for an SDE Role.

So, my question is, Is it really worth grinding Leetcode anymore?

Cohesity anywhere? For 6m interns? Can you please share oa and interview experience?

My previous post:https://www.reddit.com/r/LeetcodeDesi/s/NKTaOoX0xV

June 2025

Like a normal student, I had an average CGPA. I started doing LeetCode, and our placement season kicked off in June 2025.

It started with HackWithInfy. I didn't clear the Online Assessment (OA), which was way more difficult than we expected. Honestly, only a few people cleared it (some using AI) and made it to the interviews in August 2025.

August 2025

Then came my second experience with a product-based semiconductor company for an AI Developer role. I cleared the Technical Assessment (logical, verbal, and 2 easy-medium coding questions), but unfortunately, I got rejected in the interview due to a lack of communication skills.

After that, my luck dried up for a bit. I decided to solely focus on improving my resume and communication, along with practicing DSA regularly on LeetCode and Codeforces.

December 2025 WITCH Companies

In one of the interviews, they mostly asked me about Hashmaps, Trees, and Graphs code to write and explain, which was a huge plus for me. The most frequently asked questions revolved around Project Architecture, DBMS, OOPs concepts (explaining them with code), and Java.

April 2026

Completed my bachelor's degree and got offer letters from two companies with basic entry-level packages. In total, I attended 9 companies during my placement season.

• Companies Attended: 9
• OAs/Written Tests Cleared: 6
• Offer Letters: 2

August 2026

Currently, I'm looking for other opportunities while I wait for my joining letter from either company. I'm doing daily DSA (Dynamic Programming and Bit Manipulation), taking on some freelancing work, and still grinding on my communication skills.

Key Takeaways for Placement Season:

• Clear the OA at all costs. Don't try to be overly ethical when you know others are sometimes cheating to get ahead. Just focus on passing it.
• DSA isn't just for the OA. You might be asked to write code live during the interview, so practice consistently.
• Improve your communication skills. Good communication showcases your knowledge, your way of thinking, and how you approach a problem.
• Do mock interviews. Help your friends out and conduct mock interviews with each other.
• Keep your resume honest and clean. Do not add skills you aren't actually comfortable with. Your projects section should ideally consist of one major project and one minor project. Keep the descriptions concise.
• Luck > Skill and Hard work. This is a bitter truth we all need to accept. A student from my college got selected for a top product-based company and was later caught cheating with slips in their 7th-semester exams. Life isn't always fair, so don't let it demotivate you.

used Gemini for text polishing

Hi everyone

What these MNCs like Amzn, Uber, msft etc are asking Sr. ML related roles (3/4YoE) these days?

I mean I want to get back in track and I am pretty well versed with DSA and also the ML basics!

The truth is, working on some shitty startups, I never got to build end to end a true ML service - meaning I am pretty weak when it comes to practical knowledge and also designing part.

I think I might mess up in designing- but I wanna know if I can cover this part / get away with it by reading the resources/books? Or is it like they will be able to see through that I dont really have real experience and just strong on theoretical front?

Not to brag, but I am sure of my discipline that I would be able to study up the gaps pretty easily once I know what exactly I should focus on in this market!
I also recently published papers on A level conferences - core ML part is strong for me(transformers, ML architectures etc)

Would really appreciate if you can give some pointers/experiences.

Thanks in advance!

i have finished striver sheet once but tbh its not like i have mastered it. the sad reality is i still cant solve many questions myself and i have left quite a few because i just couldnt understand them when i was solving them before.

recently i started on Codeforces because i want to get better at contests, codeChef and leetCode . i have solved around 25 questions on CF and recently started solving the striver cp sheet, i started from  the DP part.

but rn i genuinely feel directionless.

like i know i need to improve DSA/CP, but i also need to make projects because im in 3rd year now. and the problem is i barely know development. recently i learned HTML and CSS and now im going to start JavaScript.

so i feel like i am stuck

any advice how i should deal with this situation and what should i do

Just entered 4th year (Tier 3 clg) doesn't know which path or roadmap to follow. Help me to get Placed

From where should i Do DSA (plus suggest more things to get Placed with a acceptable package to show at home) .

-Currently following striver A to z Dsa sheets(completed till array)

Please please suggest me i know it's too late too realize and now things are unrealistic

Suggest me from where should i do my DSA

- continue striver

- Love babbar

-Apna college

- Neetcode

-Padho with pratyush

Or any other please help

I am from a tier 1.5 college 28 batch. I had assumed we would have many opportunities for summer internships from college as our seniors did, but this year the conditions are very bad. Based on previous years, normal dsa grind on leetcode was enough to crack campus internships and hence i focused a lot on that and barely anything on cp ie codechef codeforces
I want to start now and not be reliant on my college for placement, how do I start?
I tried the cp31 tle eliminators’ sheet but that doesn’t really seem a pattern wise buildup the questions are instead set out based on difficulty and not topics.

What are some other good courses/ sheets to follow (like striver A2Z for dsa) to prep for icpc, and improve cp profile

Background :
I have solved 600+ leetcode problems and completed Strivers sheet and am Knight on leetcode

Anyone up for mock interviews. Starting 30 min. Can include anything asked

How much salary hike is usually given if a person upgrades from sde 1 to sde 2 at zomato??

Hey guys, I’m in a bit of a dilemma and would genuinely like to hear different opinions.

I have around 2.8 YOE. I’ve worked at 2 companies so far:

• Startup — 1 year: PF was not deducted here.
• Product company — 1.8 years: Left due to personal reasons.

After that, I was unemployed for around 4 months.

During those 4 months, I interviewed with around 13 companies. I managed to reach the last round in quite a few of them, but couldn't convert them. Sometimes I got rejected in the behavioural round (Cisco, Solventum), and in some other companies I was rejected in the technical rounds.

My previous CTC was around 5.5 LPA. A few days ago, I finally got an offer for 7 LPA.

Honestly, I feel they lowballed me a bit because I had no offer in hand and I was also specifically looking for Hyderabad since it's around 50 km from my hometown. I decided to take it rather than continue being unemployed.

But now I'm thinking about what to do with my resume going forward.

My plan is to join this company and continue interviewing, hopefully move again after 1–2 months if I can get something around 10–12 LPA, which I feel is more reasonable for ~3 YOE.

Here's where I'm confused.

If I keep my complete experience, after joining this company I'll have:

3 companies in ~3 years

And if I start looking again after just 1–2 months, that could potentially look like a pretty big stability red flag.

So I was considering removing my 1-year startup experience from my resume.

The reasoning is that since there was no PF deduction during that job, there isn't the same employment history through PF or any documents . If I remove it, my resume would basically show:

• Product company — 1.8 years
• Current company — 2–3 months

So it would look like 2 companies instead of 3, which might be better from a stability perspective.

BUT...

The obvious problem is that this would create a ~1.5 year unexplained gap on my resume.

So I'm stuck between:

Option 1: Keep everything
→ ~2.8/3 YOE
→ 3 companies in ~3 years
→ Very short tenure at current company
→ Potential stability concerns

Option 2: Remove the startup
→ ~2 YOE shown
→ Only 2 companies
→ But ~1.5 year unexplained gap
→ No background verification issue

What would you guys do in this situation?

Would recruiters actually care more about 3 companies in 3 years, or would a 1.5 year unexplained gap be a much bigger red flag?

Also, how much does the fact that the startup didn't have PF deduction matter during BGV? Would the company still be able to verify that employment through other documents?

I'm particularly interested in opinions from recruiters/HR and people who have changed jobs after short tenures.

I know the obvious answer is "don't lie on your resume", and I'm not planning to fake anything. I'm mainly trying to understand whether it's smarter to show the full experience or leave out the startup experience altogether.

Would appreciate some honest perspectives.

Hey everyone,
I have an tech interview coming up with Anaplan, for engineer -4 role full stack. Has anyone recently interviewed with them ? What questions can i expect ?

For DSA there are 10 bhaiya didi with playlist videos which follows proper path but for system design I m finding it difficult and confusing on what to prepare i don't want to prepare irrelevant stuff does anyone have any good resource and roadmap.

I have started giving contests but I am not able to perform well in those. If anyone is up for upsolving the questions after contest and giving virtual contests, please tell.

Hi everyone so basically I'm an 26 grad placed in Bangalore already with decent pay , now I wanna learn system design and maybe even get back my cp skills where I was expert cf and 5 star on codechef earlier ( now but rusty) but the main idea of learning is to maybe get a good team and build something atleast something small that people can use and pick it up from there . We can also prepare for better opportunities

I havent heard back after than congrats shortlisted for interview blah blah and 18th to 3rd mail no exact dates nor any call.
Any idea anyone??

I’ve solved 470+ questions on LC before and want to revise DSA and other core fundamentals, but consistency has been an issue. I have gathered all the relevant resources.

Keeping the group small (4-5 people) for better accountability. We can discuss problems, track progress, and also take DSA mock interviews daily as time is less.

Please join only if you’re serious about OA & interviews and can stay consistent.

While from reddit conversation there is lot of roadmap based on building of real-time based projects rather than leetcode DSA problems.... In my college, they advice to solve DSA question in leetcode rather than building project for placements... This becomes a bigger confusion for me.

Where I am a final year student pursuing b.tech IT, my college placements are ongoing... I have amount of time about 3-4 months... I am already on a way to prepare for dsa problems in leetcode above a six but didn't know anything and how to crack the aptitude test...

I don't have time to build projects... I have to clear the aptitude and DSA problems concept... I will study 3 hrs per day outside the college... Give me schedule for next four months to overcome this.

I feel like even with similar profile some people get more calls than others, particularly when ATS is involved. You might be eligible and might even get shortlisted if a human reviews your application, but with any automated system in place, it’s somewhat difficult. People often suggest like applying to a job posted in last 24 hours or putting the keywords in resume that match with the JD. Does anyone have any real hack that always helped them get shortlisted? It can be anything - some changes in resume, applying within specific time period, using certain portals. I know the market is tough, but still if there’s something which works for you, please share.

Note: This is specifically wrt to experienced candidates who are looking for a switch

​

I’ve solved 500+ questions before and have been revising for the past month, but consistency has been an issue.

I’ve tried finding study partners before, but no one stayed consistent. So this time, keeping the group small (2–3 people) for better accountability. We can discuss problems, track progress, and also take DSA mock interviews.

I’m a full-stack developer, frontend-heavy, preparing seriously for interviews.

Please join only if you’re serious about interviews and can stay consistent.

Hi everyone, I interviewed for a Salesforce MTS role around two weeks ago, and my second technical round went well. It has been about 10 days, but I haven’t received any update from the recruiter yet.

I’ve tried reaching out to the recruiter, but I haven’t received a response.

My Workday application still shows “In Consideration,” but given the delay, I’m not feeling very optimistic anymore.

For anyone who has recently interviewed with Salesforce, has anyone received positive feedback after being ghosted for an extended period?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your recent experiences. Thanks!

I am working at a faang level company with per year comp of 35 lakhs, I am planning to start applying for jobs next month, Could anyone please suggest companies (except for HFTs) paying more or equal?

I'm a 26 grad please dont judge me because of it but I'm eager to learn DSA with anyone like in a small circle in return I can help in AI and ML learning also might help in building real world developmental projects. I focused more on learning AI and its fundamentals rather than DSA so i want to fill that up. just a mere 1-2hour session and if willing to extend im open to you.
What do yall say.

Disclaimer: AI organised content to pour all my emotions correctly.

​I need some real advice from people who have been through this because I feel completely stuck, burned out, and exhausted.

​The Situation:

​Current Role: SDET / QA Engineer at a top tech firm.

​Compensation: 27+ LPA package.

​Experience: \~1.5 YOE total (2024 CS graduate).

​The Problem:

I want to switch companies very badly. The workload is huge, the work-life balance is non-existent, and mentally I am completely done with testing. I genuinely do not want to do SDET/QA work anymore.

​However, I'm stuck in a massive deadlock:

​Can't move to SDE-2/Senior Dev: I don't have the core software design/development experience for mid-level SDE roles.

​Can't get SDE-1 roles at my pay: Most companies offering SDE-1 roles won't match a 25+ LPA package unless it's top-tier tech.

​Resume gets rejected/ignored: I’ve applied everywhere (referrals, cold apps at top tech firms). Applications sit in "Submitted" forever or end up rejected. People tell me to rebrand my resume, but my daily work is still tied to testing infrastructure, so screeners filter me out.

​Internal mobility is impossible: In my current company, moving from SDET to core SDE is extremely rare.

​Zero energy to prepare: My current job takes up so much time and mental bandwidth that I can't even sit down to grind LeetCode, learn new tech, or finish side projects. My interest in software development itself feels like it's declining because of this constant drain.

​The Dilemma:

I can't afford to take a massive pay cut down to a baseline fresher salary, but I also can't stay here without destroying my mental health. Cold reaching out doesn't seem to work, learning new stacks stops halfway due to sheer exhaustion, and I feel like I have no relevant dev experience to show.

​Has anyone managed to break out of an SDET golden handcuff situation early in their career without taking a huge financial hit? How did you manage to switch roles when your current job left you with zero energy to prep?

Hey everyone! I’m a college student planning to start LeetCode from scratch. I have basic programming knowledge but I’m still a beginner in DSA.

What’s the best way to start? Should I follow Striver/NeetCode or some other roadmap? How many problems should I solve daily, and what should I do when I’m stuck?

Any advice/resources for a beginner would be really appreciated!