I'm still not at liberty to give lots of details due multiple NDAs but I interviewed with two FANG companies and 2 non-FAANG but all are considered "Big N" companies. The non-FAANG actually outbid the FAANG company but probably going with the FAANG one only because I want to get some exposure to their huge infrastructure if that makes sense.

I have 20 YOE+. I never heard of LC until the very beginning of my job search which was bad for me because as soon as I started practicing I realized I was not in a good place and got very depressed. I didn't even know which LC questions to focus on and my friend (which is a manager that works at FAANG company that ultimately gave me an offer) did not give me good direction where to focus. I didn't even encounter a good list until this one (which I just found after getting offers).

Initially, I received some rejections since, in my personal opinion, my knowledge of data structures / algorithms was just not solid. Because I'm a "senior engineer" I got Leetcode mediums and got exposed immediately (altho my understanding is everyone gets the same questions). One FAANG company, even let me do a second phone screen and I still flopped on that one again. I just didn't have time to push back the interview because around 1 month or so into LC I already received a job offer with a short deadline.

At the time of this writing, I only have 81 questions completed but they are too spread out (I should've focused on the categories I'm super weak at so don't be like me- try to focus on the various categories they have on LC). I also have a buddy that wants to ramp up on LC so we will try to help each other. Even though I accepted an offer from a FAANG company I still want to get better. Because to be frank with you- I think only reason I got this position is because they curved the interview towards my experience (tons of behavioral interviews). But if it was just a flurry of LC mediums I probably would've gotten exposed there too. That's not cool. So I wanna keep getting better.

So my journey is still at the beginning. Going forward I dont want to have to try to "cram" LC right before an interview cycle because that doesn't work for me. I have a family + kids and my marriage definitely took a small hit while I pushed through lots of interview prep.

So final advice:

• Focus on categories (like Arrays, backtracking, etc)
• I did not receive any Dynamic programming questions really although one of them could've been solved using it
• Look at Parentheses questions
• Don't skimp on Behavioral questions. I blatantly kept their company values open in a browser which helped me land the role
• Stay positive as much as positive.
• Try to gradually practice LC if you can

Also, if you're wondering why a 40+ aged engineer struggled I think it's because the bulk of my time is spent managing projects, writing docs, giving detailed input on code reviews, meeting with stakeholders to deliver business value, etc. Very little of my time is actually spent on coding even though I try my best to contribute. This is why I decideded in my spare time I will continue to complete 1 LC a day.

Thanks