Title: First some background, I have an undergraduate degree in computer science and one and a half years of professional coding experience which ended when I got fired for performance issues. I have worked diligently at Leetcode for those 5 years (exceptions occurred when I got ill). I have been personally coached by a google software engineer for months. I have done and given 100s of mock interviews and paid for some to be done by professionals. I have spent 100s if not thousands of hours on Leetcoding and algorithms trying to improve in any way I can imagine. I&#x27;m still not good enough.<p>This all came to a head yesterday when someone on Leetcode made a post about being able to solve every single Leetcode problem in a year within a year while managing a post doc degree and having almost no programming background (link at bottom of post). It made it clear that Leetcode is a game of talent not hard work. The difference between someone like her and someone like me must be noted by the programming community. The majority of people would not ever be able to accomplish that. I dedicated myself for 5 years to Leetcoding almost exclusively and still am no where near what that person has accomplished. I have put in much more work than that person and have gotten much less from it.<p>I believe the programming community can learn from this contrast. The culture of always trying harder and thinking success stories apply to everyone that is pervasive in programming circles is toxic. The is reality not everyone is lucky enough to be intellectually gifted to succeed and not all hard work pays off. I am proof of that and this is the type of story that needs to be shared and heard too.<p>I am quitting programming out of humility and recognition of my limitations. It’s ok to give up and wise to do so when you aren&#x27;t good enough for something.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leetcode.com&#x2F;discuss&#x2F;general-discussion&#x2F;1108530&#x2F;leetcode-journey-how-to-solve-1600-leetcode-questions-in-one-year" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;leetcode.com&#x2F;discuss&#x2F;general-discussion&#x2F;1108530&#x2F;leet...</a>
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