r/learnpython • u/memeaste • 17h ago

Is Leetcode a good way to continue practicing/learning Python?

I'm not entry, but I'd like to continue becoming stronger in my skills.

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u/RandomPantsAppear 17h ago

It’s a good way to interview well. I’ve rarely found leetcode problems relevant to work. The ratio of b-tree problems to b-tree users is bad(as an example).  

It is good for breaking out of O(n)2 habits though. 

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u/memeaste 17h ago

That's good. I had 2 coding assessments for a job I applied for, 1 was tricky while the other one was weirdly simple. Both were entry level, which is weird.

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u/RandomPantsAppear 17h ago

Yeah most aren’t super hard unless it’s FAANG. I’m actually shit at leetcode and have to specifically practice it, but mostly because not much of it is relevant to my actual job (20 years YOE).

People who went to university for it tend to be better at it because it’s not so different from a lot of the questions they get there.

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u/memeaste 17h ago

I went to college for CS, so not directly for Software Dev/Eng, which I sort of regret. But nothing I can do now except make the most of what I can do and improve on my skills, which is what I'm trying to do. Software administration isn't bad, but I'd like to see what else I can do.

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u/RandomPantsAppear 17h ago

😅 in my day those were the same, not sure if that has changed. If so, it should apply to CS also unless the courses have wildly changed.

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u/memeaste 17h ago

Maybe it's the lack of experience in comparison between the two of us. I work in IT at a bank and I just make sure the core software throughout works, in vague terms. I do do automation with Python, writing reports with SQL, but the vague term is what I tell people. Feels more of an administration position as opposed to actively writing code and creating software. Our software is third party, so it's not like we developed it in-house. I've been here since 2024

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u/Expensive-Bear-1376 9h ago

Can you tell what the tricky one was?

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u/memeaste 9h ago

I don’t remember it 1:1, but it something where I had to iterate a list by 3 or n where n is a number that ends in 3 and is a prime number to get the honest possible value