No you don't. You just have to demonstrate your competency to do the job. Running the gauntlet is only meant to winnow the massive number of applications the FAANGs get from unqualified people. Inevitably it fails to capture the best talent because they aren't going to waste time studying for leetcode junk and subject themselves to a callous, dehumanizing screen. It isn't a normal part of a proper hiring process and it is a disservice to the industry to normalize such behavior by suggesting otherwise. It's absolutely comical when small companies think it's a good idea to replicate this and force applicants through an excessive number of interviews stretching over months.

Speaking as someone who is very good at these questions: they’re not a good predictor of dev capability. They are, however, pretty good at determining if you put several weeks of work in. Which you might think is a good proxy for determination but you’d be wrong: it’s a much better proxy for privilege.

I went through a phase where I could always get through the interview with: (i) look it up in the hashtable or (ii) look it up into the literature.

Which, considering the PMC capture, is probably the point.

this is just wishful thinking. There is shit ton of people who can write some code by copypasting stackoverflow and kicking it until "it works on my machine". leetcode helps to filter at least those.

While I appreciate your faith in LeetCode, let's not pretend it's the be-all and end-all of coding assessment. Just because someone questions its effectiveness doesn't mean they're a StackOverflow copy-paster. Maybe some of us understand there's more to software development than algorithmic puzzles. Let's not oversimplify the discussion.

do you think i have time or energy to go grind leetcode for 6 months?

I really has fun doing the Python course at Hacker Rank as I was already proficient at Python but also open to learning more. Sometimes I think some leetcode grinding would be a break from my daily grind and grinding JRPGs but when I code on my own account I have so much fun doing things that are really unique and creative and frequently I’ve gotten jobs on the strength of my side projects.

That’s the impression I got, and that’s why I haven’t applied. I don’t want to work somewhere that makes me jump through arbitrary hoops just to get in the door. I’m not a college student, I have a busy full time job and a family to take care of. I’m not going to take time away from that to read a book about how to ace a deliberately esoteric job interview.

It’s akin to asking an experienced architect to draw a blueprint instead of asking to look at their prior buildings.