People love to say things like this. In my experience on both sides of these coding interviews in FAANG companies, the questions are basically never algorithmically intensive.
The furthest I've ever seen it go in practice: binary search, BFS/DFS, hash tables. I've never seen any more obscure algorithmic trick than standard uses of these algorithms and data structures.
I'm not saying leetcode doesn't have more insane questions, but interviews tend to be straightforward.
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It's def not "Raw mental horsepower" it's more knowing an obscure algorithmic trick.
People love to say things like this. In my experience on both sides of these coding interviews in FAANG companies, the questions are basically never algorithmically intensive.
The furthest I've ever seen it go in practice: binary search, BFS/DFS, hash tables. I've never seen any more obscure algorithmic trick than standard uses of these algorithms and data structures.
I'm not saying leetcode doesn't have more insane questions, but interviews tend to be straightforward.