It was around 11:47 PM on a random Tuesday night when I stared at the same LeetCode problem for the third hour in a row. “Hard” problems had started feeling less like a challenge and more like mental torture. I was tired. Not just physically, but deeply and spiritually tired of chasing a number on a profile. That night, I closed the LeetCode tab, stepped away from the screen, and told myself:
“I quit LeetCode.”
But the story doesn’t end there. Strangely, it was the moment I quit LeetCode that I actually started getting better at real coding.
Let me take you through that journey.
The LeetCode Obsession
When I started LeetCode, it felt like a rite of passage. Like many aspiring software engineers, I was bombarded by the narrative:
“You NEED to grind LeetCode to get into FAANG.”
“Just do 300 questions and you’ll crack it.”
“DSA is everything.”
It sounded reasonable. After all, solving algorithm problems must make you better at coding, right?
So, I dived in. I signed up, found a 75-day plan, and stuck to it. I woke up early to squeeze in problems before work, spent lunch breaks explaining “two-pointer” solutions in Slack channels, and fell asleep thinking about time complexity.
For a while, it was fun. There’s something addictive about green ticks and watching your problem count rise. But over time, the joy turned into guilt. On days when I couldn’t solve a problem, I felt dumb. On weekends when I didn’t open the site, I felt like I was falling behind. It became a grind. And worst of all?
I wasn't becoming a better developer.
The Disconnect: Code vs. Coding
At work, I was contributing to real-world codebases—frontend apps, backend APIs, build pipelines, and databases. My teammates never asked me to find the longest palindromic substring. They wanted readable code. They wanted bug-free deployments. They wanted scalability and good communication.
That’s when it hit me:
LeetCode was training me to be a problem-solving robot. But real-world software needed more than that.
I started noticing the difference:
| LeetCode | Real-World Coding |
|---|---|
| Algorithm puzzles | Business logic, data models |
| Optimal time complexity | Maintainability and clarity |
| Solo problem-solving | Collaborative development |
| One-off solutions | Long-lived, evolving codebases |
| Test input/output | Logging, debugging, testing in real systems |
Sure, there’s value in algorithms. But somewhere along the way, I had stopped learning how to build actual systems. I was memorizing patterns, not building intuition. I was passing tests, not creating value.
So I stopped.
And then I got curious again.
Relearning Coding—The Real Way
Once I ditched the LeetCode habit, I didn’t immediately become better at coding. Instead, I found myself asking new questions:
- What happens under the hood in a real framework?
- How do I write code that’s easy to read three months later?
- Why does this API fail randomly in production?
I stopped forcing daily puzzles and started doing real things.
1. I Built Projects
I went back to basics. I built small projects.
- A weather app that taught me API integration.
- A portfolio site that made me learn React deeply.
- A budget tracker that helped me structure my first backend API.
Each project revealed something new:
- How to organize folders.
- How to handle errors.
- How to store environment secrets.
- How state works in UI frameworks.
LeetCode never taught me these things. But building a real product did.
2. I Read Code
I stopped solving contrived problems and started reading real-world open-source code.
It was intimidating at first—naming conventions, architectural decisions, dependency management. But slowly, I began to appreciate good practices. I saw how teams structured services, handled edge cases, and wrote tests.
I wasn’t just writing code anymore. I was learning to read it like literature—understanding its flow, intent, and nuance.
3. I Wrote for Humans
Another thing I started doing? Writing better commit messages, documentation, and comments.
Why?
Because in real development, you’re not just coding for the compiler. You’re coding for future humans. And that includes yourself.
I focused on clarity over cleverness. I stopped trying to impress and started aiming to express.
That one mental shift? Game changer.
What Improved After Quitting LeetCode
After quitting LeetCode, here’s what actually got better:
My Debugging Skills
LeetCode problems often start from a blank slate. Real-world bugs don’t.
Once I started debugging actual apps—API calls that failed only in production, CSS that broke in certain screen sizes, race conditions in async JavaScript—I began developing a real problem-solving instinct.
No test case could simulate the chaos of a misconfigured CI/CD pipeline or a memory leak on a live app. These were the challenges that sharpened me more than any “Top K Frequent Elements” ever did.
My Communication
In interviews, I used to get nervous explaining a LeetCode solution. Now, I can walk someone through my architecture design or justify a refactor with confidence.
Why?
Because building and collaborating gave me better language around my thought process. I practiced talking to designers, product managers, and junior devs.
Turns out, explaining why your API is failing is far more valuable in the workplace than explaining how you reversed a linked list.
My Design Thinking
LeetCode problems are usually already well-defined. But real-world coding is vague. You need to:
- Decide how to structure your app.
- Choose between a monolith and microservices.
- Model data that will scale.
- Think of security and edge cases.
That freedom was terrifying—but it taught me systems thinking.
I started seeing problems before they became bugs. That’s a skill LeetCode rarely prepared me for.
But Wait—Is LeetCode All Bad?
No, not at all.
If you’re aiming for a big tech company or prepping for interviews, LeetCode absolutely has a place. It sharpens your brain, teaches you classic CS fundamentals, and builds stamina for technical interviews.
But here’s my take:
LeetCode should be a tool, not a goal.
The problem begins when we make it our identity.
I’ve seen developers with 800+ problems solved but can’t deploy a Node.js app. I’ve seen juniors obsess over time complexity but ignore how to write readable code.
The reality?
Most jobs don’t require you to be a LeetCode warrior. They need you to ship quality code, solve business problems, and work with others.
What You Can Do Instead
If you're tired of grinding and not growing, here's what I recommend:
1. Pick a Real-World Project
Make something useful. A to-do app, a blog engine, a personal finance tracker. Build, break, and rebuild it.
You’ll learn so much more than by solving problem #901 on arrays.
2. Contribute to Open Source
You don’t need to be an expert. Just pick a repo, start reading, and fix a typo or small bug.
You’ll experience:
- How teams manage branches and reviews.
- How to write meaningful issues.
- How large-scale codebases evolve.
3. Blog What You Learn
Nothing clarifies your thinking like writing.
Try explaining:
- Why you chose Express over Fastify.
- How you debugged a specific issue.
- What trade-offs you made in your architecture.
You’ll not only remember better—you’ll stand out to recruiters too.
4. Join a Community
Find dev friends. Share your frustrations. Help others.
Coding isn’t just about solving—it’s about belonging.
The Mindset Shift That Changed Everything
When I quit LeetCode, I didn’t just quit a platform—I quit the toxic mindset that equated worth with problem count.
I realized that real growth came when I stopped solving for the next problem, and started solving for real people.
Now?
- I care more about DX (developer experience) than runtime performance.
- I obsess over how my code is understood, not how clever it is.
- I’m building things that people actually use.
And that feels a hundred times more fulfilling than another green check mark.
Final Words
Quitting LeetCode didn’t make me a genius overnight. But it gave me space—to think, to explore, to grow.
If you’re on the fence, here’s my honest advice:
Keep LeetCode if it serves you. But don’t let it own you.
Real coding is messy. It’s collaborative. It’s full of nuance and trade-offs and unexpected failures. But it’s also where the real magic happens.
LeetCode is just one chapter.
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