November 12, 2025
Whiteboard Wars
Ask HN: How does one stay motivated to grind through LeetCode?
Laid-off vet asks: grind puzzle tests or build something real
TLDR: A laid-off engineer asked how to stay motivated for interview puzzle drills, and the community split: some say grind the “exam” to unlock a job, others call it dumb and push building real projects instead. Pragmatists warn skipping the grind has consequences. It matters because many tech jobs still require it.
A 10-year tech veteran got laid off and asked the internet’s brain trust how to keep grinding through LeetCode — a site full of coding puzzles that many Bay Area job interviews love. And wow, the crowd split into two camps fast: Grind Camp vs Rebel Builders. One side backed the hustle, with stitch4143 saying it’s basically an annoying exam you pass to unlock a job you actually enjoy. Think cram, pass, move on. The other side was loud and spicy: everyone blasted the whole thing as “stupid,” urging the OP to ditch puzzles and build something cool that shows real skill.
Then came the pragmatists dropping truth bombs: kotsmanis told the OP to skip it if they hate it, but own the consequences when those gatekeeping interviews come. mmkos added a modern twist: in the age of AI, grinding these puzzles feels like doing junior-level homework, not building products. And in a plot twist only HN could deliver, andai chirped, “try competitive programming — same thing, but a hundred times more fun,” basically turning the stress test into a sport. The vibe? Think “Whiteboard Olympics” meets college cram season, with a chorus arguing whether to pass the test or burn the test entirely. Drama, memes, and job anxiety galore.
Key Points
- •Author was laid off after 10 years at a big tech company.
- •They are preparing for interviews that emphasize LeetCode medium/hard problems.
- •They struggled to routinely solve these problems in the past.
- •They seek advice on staying motivated to solve multiple problems per day.
- •They clarify most Bay Area software engineering roles require at least one LeetCode-based coding challenge round.