disagree. nobody has a monopoly on what metric makes someone good. I don't understand all this leet code optimization. actually i do understand it, but it's a game that will attract game optimizers.
the hot take is, there are other games.
the hot take is, there are other games.
Yes, this applies to some simulated imaginary CPU with an artificial problem. Except that the job asked here is exactly the core of what a performance engineer will do at anthropic: optimize kernels for their fleet of GPUs. Is it simplified? Yes! (e.g. the simulator does not restrict memory access patterns)
This is a real-world problem adapted to a lab setting that can fit in one's head in a matter of hours. Leetcode would have you reimplement the hashmap used in there.
In every other field it's helpful to understand the basics. I don't think software is the exception here.