u/sylerprime wrote (the comment Michael replied to):
Yeah I knew a couple who did it during summer break as well. Hell was going to UC Berkeley. But from what my other friend said who took it with them. Said that person was clearly at the top of the class. But even both of them said it helped. But it definitely depends on the perso
u/michaelnovati replied · · edited
Leetcode isn't niche and more than 5 million people have signed up for it.
Data structures and algorithms are the most fair and consistent way to evaluate skills at scale. People can have practical skills in thousands of different frameworks and languages and no company can fairly evaluate those coming in without coming up with small, practical problems, where you can demonstrate your problem solving and coding abilities... i.e. data structures and algorithms
The problem is that the way every bootcamp I've seen teaches people is really broken for teaching fundamental skills that the truly tech driven top companies need. Rather they focus on day to day practical skills that non-tech (e.g. banks) and 2nd/3rd tier tech companies need on day one of the job. That's where most graduates end up, so it makes sense! It takes the best graduates from the best bootcamps that I work for several more months alone to improve those fundamentals skills... and no bootcamp has that kind of time for a job that is not likely.
If someone is at UC Berkeley and can't get an internship I would NOT recommend a bootcamp over the summer. I would recommend:
1. Volunteer with a professor
2. Find a small startup with Berkeley grads/students and volunteer internship there.
3. Try getting a unpaid internship with a startup in SF by reaching out to founders of YC backed companies based on the area.
4. Make a "startup" yourself. Build something useful for school, like a study tool or a scheduling tool or something and try to get some other students to use it and put that on your resume. More people will use it than will use your bootcamp projects...