I learned the other day (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46184676) that people who aren't students apparently use LeetCode too, for recreational purposes? I'm not sure why you'd work on someone else's imaginary problem instead of doing something for yourself, so apparently it's there and some people enjoy it, regardless of my understanding of it.

But then I don't know how to reconcile the idea that some people use LeetCode to pass interviews, some use it recreationally, but then this app seems to indicate some people use LeetCode to learn patterns to implement in the real world, which seems absolutely backwards to me. These are tiny examples, not "real programming" like you'd encounter in the world outside of computers, LeetCode can impossibly teach you how to create useful programs, it only teaches you syntax and specific problems.

So I guess take this as a word of caution, that no matter how much you grind LeetCode, nothing will prepare you to solve real world problems as practicing solving real world problems, and you don't need any platforms for that, just try to make your daily life better and you'll get better at it over time and with experience of making mistakes.

> imaginary problem instead of doing something for yourself

they're doing it for themselves just like when they solve sudokus, crosswords or play fortnite

I do codeforces in my spare time. Sometimes I implement and ML paper. Other times, I like to slog through my implementation of Raft, Paxos and VR. Not everybody wants to build generic crud app number 1,200,674. Coding is for solving problems, the problems might be engineering or just pure fun.

Seeing how other people solve problems opens up new ways for me to solve my own. Many people are not RTFM but instead want applied examples.

some people like to play with Rubiks Cubes, which among other things is a nice tactile way to learn some interesting advanced math