I'll let you in on a little secret. Very early on in my career, I decided to stop doing code challenges. Why? I didn't see the professional benefit of practicing binary tree problems outside of a job interview. I got a much more significant ROI from creating web apps and exploring Ethereum. More importantly, I never found it too challenging to find a new job.

I have a confession to make. I don't understand why highly sought-after talent has to go through so many hoops to get a job. There's a shortage of programmers, yet you wouldn't know it if you see what they have to go through to find a job. Why do we put up with this?

What Should You Do Instead

• Go to hackathons- companies are constantly recruiting there.

• Work on open-source projects- many companies hire programmers who are already putting in the work.

• Create tutorials on Youtube and post them on Twitter. A company already knows that you are familiar with async/await if you posted a whole series on the topic.

• Build an app that generates revenue.

The Pushback

"I am a minority. The rules are different." It's probably more of an imperative for you to think outside of the box when it comes to your career.

"I won't be able to get a FAANG job with this approach." FAANGS do hire from hackathons. Also, FAANGS would probably waive whiteboarding requirements for folks who are building mission-critical open-source software that they are already using.

"What about my bills?" Start creating a FU money fund from day one.

The biggest takeaway is that programmers need to stop approaching their career with a scarcity mindset. We have a lot more control over the hiring process than we give ourselves credit for.