Framework to land $500k+ Software Engineer Job without Leetcoding

Bye-bye Leetcode!

Go to the office or attend pointless meetings on Zoom.

Code a bit. Then eat.

Cut time with your family. Grind Leetcode while dreaming about doubling your compensation.

Give interviews. Fail.

Feel like sh*t. Sleep.

Repeat.

Sounds familiar?

This is how most software engineers practice switching jobs.

It sucks when you have to spend a lot of time being an algo-coding monkey to crack interviews.

Reality at job is totally different. You are hired and paid to come up with ideas and solve business problems quickly, not to memorize algorithms like parrots.

But what if I told you something amazing? Something achievable.

As a Staff+ Engineer, you can land a $500k+ salary without Leetcode.

As a Senior+ Engineer, you can land a $300k+ salary without Leetcode.

As a Junior-Mid-Senior level engineer, you can land a $200k+ salary without Leetcode.

Yes, without Leetcode—it’s possible. I’ve been there, done that myself.

Today, I’ll cover:

• How Leetcode evolved and why it isn’t for everyone?

• Is it really possible to get high compensation as a SWE without Leetcode?

• A framework I use to land high-paying SWE jobs with almost no Leetcode.

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

How have Coding Interviews and Leetcode evolved?

Coding interviews existed long before Leetcode became a thing.

In 2016, I cracked my Amazon interview after practicing 100 known questions on GeeksforGeeks. Those were closer to real-world problems.

Over time, big tech companies found it convenient to use Leetcode as a proxy for assessing problem-solving skills.

Leetcode monetized this problem. To thrive on its subscription model, it began scaling and overcomplicating its problems.

Now, there are over 3,300 problems, mostly unrelated to what engineers actually face in their daily work.

Companies end up hiring algorithm experts, not necessarily great software engineers.

Why It Isn’t for Everyone?

For new grads with time on their hands, grinding through thousands of Leetcode problems is doable.

But for experienced engineers with families? That’s a whole different ball game.

We’re busy delivering results on real, high-impact projects at work. Plus, we’ve got lives outside of work that we can’t just put on pause.

Most of us are out of touch with those tricky algorithms and shouldn’t have to cram them like we’re back in college.

Think about it: the algorithms we’re expected to memorize took experts months to create!

Is it really possible to get high compensation as a SWE without Leetcode?

What’s the catch?

You can get into FAANG without Leetcode— it’s not an easy road.

Here's the thing: You don’t need to chain yourself to Big Tech to get the salary, learning, and growth you’re after.

You can find all that in mid-tier companies too.

The trouble starts when you get wrapped up in the whole “Big Tech Prestige” mindset.

Joe: “Hey, I heard you can land a fat salary without grinding through Leetcode.”

Nick: “Nah, man, that’s a pipe dream. No way Big Tech hires without Leetcode.”

Joe: “But what’s your priority? Is it the pay, learning, growth—or just having a fancy company name on your resume?”

I get it.

Working at Amazon, Google, or Netflix is the dream. Even your grandma knows those names.

But let’s take a step back for a second. What are you really aiming for?

If your next gig offers similar pay, growth, and learning as Big Tech, why not explore that?

Play a different game.

The best part?

Once you’ve got some solid experience under your belt, the dynamics shift.

If you are valuable, even Big Tech is occasionally open to bending their interview process to fit your terms. More on that in next section.

Use my EOF framework to cruise through coding rounds.

When I was on the job hunt after Coinbase, the last thing I wanted to do was grind through Leetcode.

So, I tapped into my network and found a bunch of non-FAANG companies working on some seriously cool stuff—places that value real-world coding chops over solving obscure algorithms.

And guess what? I scored four offers in just twenty days.

Two from mid-tier companies, one from a startup, and even one from Apple.

All of them over $500k for a Staff role—except the startup.

Here’s how I did it with the Eliminate-Offset-Frame (EOF) framework to sidestep the whole Leetcode circus.

Eliminate

I ‘eliminate’ Leetcode prep using these two methods:

1. I use a list of companies that don’t ask Leetcode.

   1. I then use levels.fyi and Glassdoor to filter companies based on my target compensation.

   2. Then, I find its employees on LinkedIn and try to understand the culture and work ethics.

   3. If everything aligns, I schedule interviews, and unless I had a bad day, 90% of the time, I get an offer.

2. I negotiate with big tech companies to skip Leetcode rounds.

   1. Many experienced folks know this secret, and it works a few times.

   2. Before interviewing with Apple, I negotiated to replace the Leetcode rounds with real coding challenges. I got the offer.

Offset

This is a fallback I use when I can’t completely cut Leetcode rounds.

I have a good grasp of system design interviews. I try to use this leverage to 'offset' one or more Leetcode rounds with these interviews.

At a mid-sized company, I replaced one of the two Leetcode rounds with an in-depth design discussion. For the other one, I prepared Blind 75 questions and was able to get through it without any issues.

Frame

This is my final fallback.

If I'm here, it's because a mid-tier company didn't meet my expectations for culture, pay, or ethics. Or, I'm desperately seeking a specific company that wouldn't accept my leetcode negotiation offer.

Two options. Either:

1. Smartly crack a few important Leetcode patterns with timeboxed preparation. Still no guarantee.

2. Take a step back and ‘Frame’ the problem differently.

I can join at some other role in company and later transfer internally at the role I aimed for.

Here’s how one of my friends did it:

He was a skilled Salesforce engineer who wanted to transition to a software engineering role at Amazon. The leap to prepare for Leetcode was too steep. Instead, he interviewed for a Salesforce engineer position at Amazon. Since it was a different interview loop, he avoided Leetcode-style questions and got the job.

Later on, he transitioned to SDE-2 role internally.

I acknowledge that this is a slow option, but it works for those who don’t have a strict timeline constraint.

Shoutouts 🔊

1. Being an engineering manager at Amazon by

   Gilad Naor
   and
   Anton Zaides

2. If you cannot track, you cannot improve by

   Hemant Pandey

3. Growing from engineer to Staff engineer and thriving by

   Sidwyn Koh
   and
   Gregor Ojstersek

4. How to Cultivate Clarity and Kindness in Your Engineering Team by

   Irina Stanescu

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Gourav Khanijoe