The phrase "grinding LeetCode" refers to a kind of unmentionable self-stimulus indulged in by people who want tech jobs money, but are bad at software engineering, and who want to work with other people who are bad at software engineering.
It was most popular during zero interest rate phenomenon, when there were numerous investment scams based on startup companies that could have a very lucrative "exit" for those running the scheme, despite losing money as a business.
LeetCode falls out of favor when companies realize they need to build viable businesses, and need software engineers rather than theatre performances.
What if I want to work at big tech? Does your message still apply, or if I want to work at big tech, it means I just want tech jobs money, and am bad at software engineering?
You could be an outlier. I, too, wanted to work at a particular Big Tech.
But then I looked again at the prep materials they recommended for their frat hazing interview theatre, and it was so depressingly trashy, that it made me not want to work there anymore.
And things I read publicly (e.g., culture of disingenuous mercenary careerism, and hiring scraping the bottom of the barrel that knows only the interview gaming) and hear privately (worse) mean that probably it was for the best that I didn't move there, though the bigger bank account would've been nice.
The phrase "grinding LeetCode" refers to a kind of unmentionable self-stimulus indulged in by people who want tech jobs money, but are bad at software engineering, and who want to work with other people who are bad at software engineering.
It was most popular during zero interest rate phenomenon, when there were numerous investment scams based on startup companies that could have a very lucrative "exit" for those running the scheme, despite losing money as a business.
LeetCode falls out of favor when companies realize they need to build viable businesses, and need software engineers rather than theatre performances.
What if I want to work at big tech? Does your message still apply, or if I want to work at big tech, it means I just want tech jobs money, and am bad at software engineering?
You could be an outlier. I, too, wanted to work at a particular Big Tech.
But then I looked again at the prep materials they recommended for their frat hazing interview theatre, and it was so depressingly trashy, that it made me not want to work there anymore.
And things I read publicly (e.g., culture of disingenuous mercenary careerism, and hiring scraping the bottom of the barrel that knows only the interview gaming) and hear privately (worse) mean that probably it was for the best that I didn't move there, though the bigger bank account would've been nice.
"grinding" is doing something repetitively, with the connotation that it is difficult and goal-oriented.
"farming" is the same but without the difficulty: just doing an easy but boring task repeatedly because it gets you something else that you want.