Leetcode is just a single signal interviewers should use. It's useful, but it's not the entire story. Someone who has strong signals in every other area should be able to have a weak leetcode signal.
And I find a bit of contradiction in your post.
You both claim that you feel the problems are harder now and that they're all simple regurgitation. These both can't be true. If you recognize they're just simple recitation, then recite. You should be able to crush it with no problem.
I don't know if you've done any interviewing yet (it sounds like you're going in that direction), but one of the favorite follow up questions in FAANG interviews is: "and at scale?". And there you have to know how to go massively parallel.
Also, what's to prevent you from hanging your shingle and doing those creative/fun/whatever things?
It sounds like you've been on a job hunt for a few months and are getting frustrated and taking it out on the one thing you've done the most. Consider you're taking this attitude into everything you're doing. It will come through in your speech, your writing, everything.
And as to leetcode itself: What else is there? Hiring isn't broken per se, it's just really fucking hard. I've seen others mention a desire for a test they could give that could test for what employers want. That's what leetcode/whiteboarding is supposed to be. It's a skills assessment.
Then you have the people who claim that what they're doing at FAANG isn't that far off what others are doing on average. Let's say that is true. Let's say that 90% of software developers out there could do it. They still pay the most. Most people would still want to work there. So they'd have to filter somehow. This is just a filter that excluded you.
And I find a bit of contradiction in your post.
You both claim that you feel the problems are harder now and that they're all simple regurgitation. These both can't be true. If you recognize they're just simple recitation, then recite. You should be able to crush it with no problem.
I don't know if you've done any interviewing yet (it sounds like you're going in that direction), but one of the favorite follow up questions in FAANG interviews is: "and at scale?". And there you have to know how to go massively parallel.
Also, what's to prevent you from hanging your shingle and doing those creative/fun/whatever things?
It sounds like you've been on a job hunt for a few months and are getting frustrated and taking it out on the one thing you've done the most. Consider you're taking this attitude into everything you're doing. It will come through in your speech, your writing, everything.
And as to leetcode itself: What else is there? Hiring isn't broken per se, it's just really fucking hard. I've seen others mention a desire for a test they could give that could test for what employers want. That's what leetcode/whiteboarding is supposed to be. It's a skills assessment.
Then you have the people who claim that what they're doing at FAANG isn't that far off what others are doing on average. Let's say that is true. Let's say that 90% of software developers out there could do it. They still pay the most. Most people would still want to work there. So they'd have to filter somehow. This is just a filter that excluded you.