> but it appears that the highest-paying outfits will judge me on things that are at best very tangentially related to how I can make/save them money.
This is very wrong, leetcode is just the baseline and don't determine your seniority. Even the best leetcoder in the world had to start at the lowest junior level after college. Instead they look at your experience and what value you can bring to determine if you become junior, mid, senior, staff etc, so they very much value experience not related to leetcode. However you still have to pass the leetcode bar.
Yes, I will have to pass the leetcode bar, which has very little to do with my actual value add. I understand that’s how it works, I have friends who hire for some of these companies, but thanks for explaining.
I strongly dislike having that bar, because I think it is irrational to use it as the baseline hoop everyone has to jump through. And honestly because it’s not my strongest suit, I’m sure I’d be less bothered if it was something I’m good at and your average fresh CS grad is not. Which is kinda how we ended up here I think.
This is very wrong, leetcode is just the baseline and don't determine your seniority. Even the best leetcoder in the world had to start at the lowest junior level after college. Instead they look at your experience and what value you can bring to determine if you become junior, mid, senior, staff etc, so they very much value experience not related to leetcode. However you still have to pass the leetcode bar.