This has not been my experience (lately). That’s how it used to be, when I was younger (and probably rated it), but every query I made in the last five years, the very first thing was a test.

In a couple of instances, it was a sensible, applicable “take-home” test, but usually, it was a schoolboy binary tree test.

I interview very well (on account of over 30 years of relevant ship experience, and I’m actually a fairly decent chap), but it has never gotten to that point.

BTW: if it isn’t already obvious, I’m quite senior, and have been architecting, as well as writing, software, since my very first project, in 1987.

I was quite willing to work for a lot less than many folks much less qualified, on account of having my retirement set, and was looking for interesting and engaging work, more than money; but it never got that far.

I won’t waste time practicing LeetCode. I don’t think it would make any difference, simply putting off the inevitable rejection. It’s not something that helps me to write better shipping code.