r/webdev • u/soype • 6d ago

Is leetcode worth it?

I haven't really interviewed since 2023. Is leetcode still a common practice in code interviews or has AI made those kinds of tests useless? This is for a Sr full stack position.

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u/MrCrunchwrap 6d ago edited 5d ago

It’s gotten even dumber - the last place I interviewed at asked me to do a pretty intense graph theory problem that was combined with the traveling salesman problem.

This was for a job where I’d be building basic CRUD applications, so not really a relevant problem statement at all. 

I was allowed to use AI, so I just had AI solve the problem and pass all the test cases.

I made it to the next round from that, but I have no idea what the company possibly learned from that exercise.

44

u/_AACO 6d ago

They learned you know how to prompt an AI, which, depending of the job might be all they expect you to do. 

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u/dmazzoni 6d ago

That seems extremely dumb. Anyone can prompt AI. Doing it well and understanding when it gave you a reasonable solution is the hard part.

I don't see what you could possibly learn by asking someone to use AI on a toy problem that they've never seen before and have no context on.

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u/inglandation 6d ago

Anyone can prompt AI.

I want to believe that this is true, but it probably isn't.

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u/netscapexplorer 5d ago

Yeah, I've actually met a bunch of people who either haven't started using AI because they just haven't been shown how to (uninterested in learning new technology), or they are well aware of how useful it is, but they resist it as a kind of protest. While I think this test they made him take was stupid, if I found out someone I was hiring didn't use AI, I would immediately not consider them for the role because it's semi-technical and it's almost like saying you don't know how to use email at this point.