If you are already good on leetcode, then I'd say focus more on practical skills and people skills. Asking the interviewer good follow up questions to clarity scope, having good variable names and meaningful code structure, solving for the underlying problem instead of the surface question...
Essentially becoming someone that the interviewer would want to work with.
Great advice! I started in sales and customer service than got my computer science degree after. My social skills are top notch. I need the necessary resume details that will actually get me in the door for an interviewer so my people skills can shine. I am looking for what types of projects I can build to get me that opportunity.
Nice, sales skills can be useful (but also sometimes harmful)!
I think the biggest boost for your chances would be if you build solid open source app/library/service and put it on your GitHub. You can wisely choose the technologies that the companies you are interested in also use - and if you do well and actually learn those technologies, then you put those technologies in your CV, which is what recruiters scan for and that's how you get your foot in the door. The engineering managers then usually go and check your GitHub, check if you write good code, not just stupid copypasta...
Now why I think sales skills can be harmful - often sales are based on the person adding up small lies and twists to sell the product.
If I'm interviewing engineers for software engineer position and I catch the engineer in a lie or self promoting some skills they don't actually have, then that's usually clear NO. I would not want to work with a person like that.
