I can still practically smell the burnt coffee from my first “real” developer interview. I’d been holed up in my apartment for weeks, mainlining LeetCode like it was some kind of life or death Olympics. I had this wild idea that I’d have to rattle off Big O notations like a math robot. But then I walked in, well, logged in, actually, it was remote, and it was just this super chill conversation. No whiteboard, no riddles, just a friendly chat about some random side project I’d hacked together, a couple of laughs about how weird React can be, and then, weirdly enough, a full on debate about pineapple on pizza. (Not that anyone asked, but yeah, I’m team pineapple. Let’s not fight about it.)
I left the call thinking, “Wait, that’s it? I spent all night memorizing tree traversals for this?” Felt like I’d studied for a marathon and then got asked about my favorite pizza toppings. Totally threw me.
But man, things have flipped so hard since then. Fast forward to now, and it’s like we’re back in the dark ages of technical interviews. If you can’t dream in binary trees, you might as well not even bother. I’m not even joking, I’ve never once needed to invert a binary tree at work, but apparently, that’s the secret handshake again. It’s like the industry hit rewind and decided we should all be algorithmic gymnasts, just like the good ol’ days.
The “Easy” Era: When “Tell Me About Yourself” Was the Hardest Part
Honestly, it wasn’t that long ago, 2021, maybe early 2022, when interviews were, well, almost… chill? I’m not saying everyone was just waltzing into six figure jobs for fun, but there was a definite “we need you more than you need us” energy. I’d get random LinkedIn DMs from recruiters who sounded more nervous than I did. Remote work was everywhere, companies were desperate, and you could almost feel the collective FOMO.
The interviews matched that vibe. Instead of grilling you on tree rotations, it was more about real talk:
- “What have you built?”
- “How do you handle a teammate ghosting you?”
- “Can you Google an error message without spiraling?”
I remember one interview where the “technical” part was literally just me talking through a bug I’d squashed last week. Not a single line of code written, just a chat.
And it made sense. The market was on fire, and companies needed people who could actually deliver, not just ace brain teasers. I knew folks who landed offers after a single call. One friend got hired after sending a GitHub repo and nerding out about their favorite VS Code theme. Wild, right?
The Snapback: Algorithms Are Back, Baby
Of course, that didn’t last. The job market cooled off, fast. Layoffs started rolling in, and suddenly those jokes about “overhiring” at big tech companies felt a little too real. Now there are a hundred people fighting for every job, and just like that, the algorithm gauntlet is back in full force.
These days, if you don’t get a CoderPad link or a whiteboard challenge, it’s honestly a miracle. The same companies that used to ask about teamwork are now like, “Please implement merge sort backward, in O(n log n), and narrate your process while juggling flaming swords.” (Okay, not swords. Yet.)
And it’s not just the big names. Even smaller companies are rolling out the algorithm Olympics. I had an interview a few months ago where the manager literally apologized before tossing me a stack of dynamic programming problems. “Sorry, it’s just our process now.” Sure, buddy.
The wildest part? Most of these problems have nothing to do with the actual job. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve needed a trie at work. Red black trees? I’d have to Google that, no shame. But here we are, sweating through “hard” LeetCode for jobs that are 90% CRUD APIs and trying to make sense of someone’s spaghetti code from 2014.
Why Did It Flip Back?
If I’m being real, it feels like a mix of panic and old habits. When companies are desperate, they don’t want to scare off good people with five rounds of gatekeeping. But when there are 300 resumes for every opening? Suddenly, it’s all about “proving” you’re a genius.
There’s also this weird myth that algorithm questions are the best filter. Like, if you can invert a binary tree on command, you’ll definitely be a rockstar dev. Never mind that most of us are just pattern matching from hours of LeetCode. I know folks who can quote Dijkstra’s algorithm in their sleep but have never written a production system design doc. Does that actually make them better engineers? I’m not convinced.
And then, of course, there’s the copycat effect. Google or Meta start grilling people on graph traversal, and suddenly your local fintech startup thinks they have to do it too. Nobody wants to be “the easy interview” when jobs are scarce.
What Actually Matters (And What Doesn’t)
Here’s the truth: most dev work isn’t about algorithms. Sure, you need to know the basics, if you can’t spot an O(n^2) loop, you’ll eventually get burned. But day to day? It’s debugging, reading docs, figuring out why the build is angry, wrestling with half broken APIs, and untangling code that someone’s long gone predecessor wrote in 2013. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the job.
I’ve worked with people who freeze up in interviews but are absolute wizards at untangling legacy code, communicating with PMs, and shipping features without breaking prod. And I’ve seen folks who can solve the nastiest LeetCode problems but can’t explain their own pull requests. If I’m picking a teammate, I know who I want.
The Human Cost: Burnout and Gatekeeping
This whole algorithm arms race isn’t just annoying it’s draining. I see people burning out before they even get the job. Months of grinding, endless mock interviews, all for a shot at maybe making it to a final round and then starting over somewhere else.
And let’s be honest, it shuts out a ton of great devs. Not everyone has the time or energy to grind LeetCode after work. Parents, career changers, people without fancy CS degrees they’re all at a disadvantage. It’s gatekeeping, plain and simple.
And for what? So we can all parrot the same handful of solutions we’ll never use again? Seems like a massive waste.
So, What Now?
I get why companies do this. It’s easy. It feels “objective.” But it’s not the best way to find great developers. If you’re hiring, seriously, mix it up. Talk about real world problems. Ask about actual projects, not just puzzles. Give people a chance to show how they think, not just how fast they can regurgitate a solution.
If you’re on the other side, grinding through the algorithm circus yeah, it sucks. But don’t let it get in your head. Passing interviews is a skill, but it’s not the same as being a good developer. If you bomb a round, it doesn’t mean you’re not good enough. It just means you didn’t memorize the right trick this time. Trust me, I’ve been there more than once, and it stings every time.
Final Thoughts
Look, I wish I had a magic answer. I don’t. I’m still figuring it out one stack trace, one awkward interview at a time. But I do know this: the best devs I’ve met are the ones who keep learning, keep building, and don’t let the process break them. Interview fads come and go. They always do. Just try not to lose your mind along the way.
And hey, if you ever find yourself mid interview, staring down an inverted binary tree problem, just remember that pineapple on pizza debate. Sometimes, the stuff that really matters isn’t what you expect and honestly, you’ll probably remember the weird pizza question longer than any sorting algorithm anyway.
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