Is LeetCode Still Worth Preparing in 2026?

I’ve been seeing a lot of mixed opinions around interview prep lately.

Some people say LeetCode is still the fastest way to pass SWE interviews. Others say interviews are shifting toward more practical coding, debugging, system design, project deep dives, AI tooling, and production tradeoff discussions.

My current guess is:

LeetCode is not dead, but it is no longer enough by itself.

For new grad and junior SWE roles, classic coding questions still seem very important. For mid-level roles, coding is still common, but system design and practical implementation matter more. For senior / staff / infra / AI roles, I’m seeing more debugging, system design, architecture tradeoffs, and real-world engineering judgment.

I’m opening this thread to collect recent data points from people who interviewed in 2025–2026.

If you recently interviewed, please share:

• Company:
• Role:
• Level:
• Year / month:
• Round type:
• Was it LeetCode-style, practical coding, debugging, system design, project deep dive, or AI/ML-focused?
• What did the interviewer seem to care about most?
• How would you prep differently if you had to do it again?

A few discussion questions:

1. Are classic LeetCode-style questions still common in your recent interviews?
2. Which companies still ask mostly algorithmic coding?
3. Which companies are moving toward practical coding or debugging?
4. For senior / staff candidates, is system design now the main signal?
5. For AI / ML / infra roles, are interviews shifting toward applied systems and project depth?
6. If someone has limited prep time, how should they split time between LeetCode, system design, projects, and AI tools?

I’ll try to summarize the useful patterns from this thread over time so future candidates can get a clearer picture of what interview prep actually looks like now.