I've been coding since I was 15 (now I'm 20) and I've never taken formal courses; I learn by diving into projects like web development, Discord bots, and some embedded software. I thought I was decent at programming, but when I tried out LeetCode, I found myself struggling to solve any problems. Is this a common experience for others? It really left me feeling disheartened.
4 Answers
Absolutely, struggling with LeetCode problems is super common! Think of it like working out—you need to build up those problem-solving skills just like your muscles. You'll get into concepts like traversing arrays, trees, and optimizing algorithms. Don't be discouraged; it's all about practice and learning how to think differently about these coding puzzles.
LeetCode focuses on data structures and algorithms (DSA), which isn't necessarily what you use in everyday coding tasks. Not all programming jobs require this knowledge, but it's becoming increasingly important for interviews. So don't feel bad—it's just a different area of focus!
It's totally normal! Many programmers feel the same way when first trying out LeetCode. You're just not familiar with that style of problem-solving. Just keep practicing, and it will get easier! If you haven’t yet, "Cracking the Coding Interview" is a great resource to help frame your approach to these types of questions.
Yeah, LeetCode challenges are more like brain teasers than actual coding practice. You could be great at building projects but still find these problems tough because they're testing different skills. It's all good; don't doubt your coding abilities just because of this!
Exactly! It's a different skill set than what you use in day-to-day programming. Just keep at it!