Hey LeetCode community,

Do any of y'all ever feel discouraged trying to solve these problems?

I know I am a fine software developer. I'm in a senior role at a large private financial services company. I understand the systems that I work with, and I am well-versed in the programming languages and frameworks that I use.

But damn, these questions are hard! I've started practicing in earnest about one month ago, and while I am slowly improving on the easy questions, the medium questions almost always stump me.

Here is my common flow:

• I'll develop an algorithm that seems to work in my mind and I'll implement it with relative ease.
• The algorithm will fail for some simple edge cases, and I will adjust it accordingly.
• The algorithm will encounter a test case that reveals a fundamental flaw in its design.
• I will rework the algorithm, making it more and more complicated.
• I give up two hours later and look at the solution, which is often in the range of 5-15 lines.

Naturally, this process is not really fun, haha. It's not a great feeling to repeatedly get your butt whipped on problems that, according to the language that some of the analysis writers use, should be very straightforward.

Please let me know if you guys ever get frustrated on this platform, so at least I know I'm not the only one.

Appreciative of your commiseration,
Matt