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I abhor everything leetcode (and suck at their puzzles), but I would call O(n) basic foundational theory. Competence in engineering requires an intuitive understanding of at least time complexity. Given that this is software "engineering", it's probably fine if the candidate isn't familiar with big O specifically but they should at least be able to reason about scaling complexity on an interview, I think.

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Any thoughts on self taught who, i'd think, has a seasoned understanding of time complexity but lacks meaningful mathematical notation background necessary to use Big O fully?

Which is to say i have no confidence issues in my working knowledge of Big O. I lead a team, i've developed obsessively for 10 years now and despite my many short comings i don't think understanding trivial complexity - the why of "Why is HashMap faster than BTreeMap on lookup? When is it slower?" etc - is lacking. But, i couldn't use Big O notation to any meaningful complexity with any real confidence. My math background is nil.

In general i need to up my interview game, which i think also means i need to up my math game to have a firm understanding of Big O notation itself.. but the complexity is not the issue, for me at least.

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