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Ask HN: Switching from Software Engineer to Data Engineer Because of Leetcode

15 points by AdityaSanthosh ↗ HN
SDE of 2+YoE here. The question says it all. I have been interviewing couple of months only to be rejected in the coding round because of these leetcode questions. (I am based in India where the coding rounds are brutal). I have solved some 200 problems but when it comes to interview setting, I am failing because I generally take long time to solve problems. That time constraint pressure is the reason why I am not getting any offers. I am stuck in a really terrible role. So I am quite desperate now. But my PoV is that even if I am able to grind Leetcode now, I cannot keep doing that until 10 years down the line. I love to build OSS projects, build architectures, do side projects instead of grinding trick problems.

Has any one ever made the switch from SDE to DE for the same reason?

22 comments

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itg
Are there companies in India that don't focus on leetcode style problems during the interview process? Maybe you can target those if they exist.
AdityaSanthosh
The intersection of no of companies that do not ask leetcode, which pay reasonably good is very low and it is really hard to find them
qd011
Seems like a very bad reason to switch. Data engineering is different (and much worse than SWE in my opinion), and it's not like you're certain that you can avoid LC interviews if you try to switch.
altdataseller
How is it much worse?
isbvhodnvemrwvn
You are data plumber, lots of dealing with other people's shit and people who don't know what they want.
datadrivenangel
This is correct, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you don't end up with the same thing in application engineering.
philomath_mn
Some DE jobs have leetcode interviews, some SDE jobs don't have leetcode interviews. So don't switch tracks for that reason.

But if comes down to no job or a DE job then I'd take the DE job.

AdityaSanthosh
In my observation, DE interviews even if they are leet code based have relatively easy compared to that of SDE roles. And it is not like I hate DE, i like it too.
solardev
I don't know what it's like in India, but here in the US I've never been asked a leetcode question a single time in any interview over 10+ years of web dev experience.

Maybe it's just the role (web) or the industry (small/med businesses and nonprofits) or the specialization (frontend), but it's been possible for me to get employment without ever touching leetcode.

I've worked with several Indian colleagues too, and as far a I know they didn't have to grind either. It's for an American company though.

Can you consider other types of businesses like that in India? Or does everyone, even the non tech businesses, do this?

cushpush
ask them
solardev
Ask who, sorry?
cushpush
Ask your Indian colleagues about this specific grind and you might be surprised.
solardev
Gotcha. I'll do that the next time I bump into them
[deleted]
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itsoktocry
I can't believe this is still a thing in 2023. You have to be on a run of bad luck, most companies don't operate this way.
gigafuture
You've only been interviewing for a couple of months? Sweet summer child.

I would keep at it with leetcode. There are more positions for SWEs.

austin-cheney
Kind of. I just switched from senior software engineer to junior data engineer. I did it because this position is work from home and honestly all JavaScript positions at this point are junior positions.

90% of JavaScript jobs now are really React positions or Angular plus Java positions. If you need React/Angular and spend all your time over-engineering how to put text on screen and at this point cannot figure out Node you are a supremely overpaid junior. After working with overpaid juniors at the last job and getting laid off from it, it feels like a broken house of cards ready to fold at any time.

So, after refusing to go back to work in that line of work for 5 months a recruiter for this data science job found me and I super easily qualified. There was no leet code nonsense. This current project uses a low code enterprise suite for data science and service delivery and starts with up to 6 weeks training to certify in the platform.

phnofive
I'm looking for a similar change - if you don't mind my asking, are they still hiring?
austin-cheney
To join my project you will need a US Secret security clearance and a Security+ certification. I suspect teams working other projects have similar minimum requirements because this is a very small federal contractor. If that is not an issue email me (in profile).

The greatest realization I had about hiring during my recent many months of unemployment was to abandon perceptions of trends and marketplace popularity and instead focus on my strengths no matter how unpopular. So, I gave up on looking at JavaScript related positions even though I have 15 years full time experience writing JavaScript. Instead I strongly promoted my experience as a military officer who can program in niche projects. I went from 0 interviews to multiple competing offers. I turned down a much higher paying offer a super prestigious place to take this job because it’s something completely new for me, work from home, and almost what I was making at my last job.

Also if you know anybody that is a Java developer with a TS and willing to relocate to Dallas I can get them a job at that other place immediately at around 200K

girishso
You can try applying to small companies, they probably won’t have coding rounds.