The Leader of the LeetCode Rebellion: An Interview with Roy Lee

by distalxon 3/27/25, 8:34 PMwith 44 comments
by mellosoulson 3/27/25, 9:45 PM

I don't know what to make of this guy, I've seen him on X for a while; at first I just thought he was an obnoxious student and a crazy bridge-burner who was going to quickly regret his escapades.

I didn't follow him then but he kept coming up in my feed and there was something about his focus and message that seemed as amusing and sincere as it was egotistical and immature.

Now I'm still not convinced of his angelic qualities but more sympathetic to his mission and at least a little of his showboating seems courageous.

by cjayboon 3/27/25, 8:59 PM

This guy must have some strong connections to get this sort of coverage out of an AI wrapper + a few gimmicky twitter posts

by LZ_Khanon 3/27/25, 8:56 PM

I feel like covid started the remote work revolution and AI cheating is about to end it.

Or at least bring back on-site interviews.

by VirusNewbieon 3/27/25, 9:05 PM

I don't understand why he (or anyone) thinks it's OK to say, cheat in an algorithmic interview, but that if you were somehow able to have an LLM secretly feed you optimal answers for any other part of the interview it's "wrong".

Why is it not OK to cheat on a system design interview? Why is it not OK to completely make up a story to make you look amazing when they ask about your background?

In the article he thinks companies should review past work and ask interviewees about that instead, but what would he say if there was an app for cheating that way?

by hahaxdxd123on 3/27/25, 8:52 PM

IDK if this guy is the leader - these interview cheating tools have been around for at least a year at this point and some have been VC funded.

by benaon 3/27/25, 8:56 PM

I really feel like this guy is paying for placement and articles about himself.

Just today, I've seen a twitter thread and this post. Searching for him also shows a Gizmodo article from today.

And it really seems to be a case of trying to stir controversy for engagement.

by ajcpon 3/27/25, 9:05 PM

I really want to be on this guys side, and when I read (or hear) interviews with him he comes off as thoughtful, introspective, and clear-eyed, while the reactions to him seem obviously out-sized, misguided, and frankly childish. I'm always left thinking: hell yeah dude, burn it down.

...but then I see the actual stuff he posts on X, his YouTube video, his overall "informal content", and it's blatantly antagonistic, performative, and basically edge-lord bs. I just can't help but think: this guy just needs to get bodied.

So while I agree with his "crusade", I also can't help but not trust a thing he says, and have to assume every justification he gives is made up after the fact. Am I off target here?

by scudsworthon 3/27/25, 9:51 PM

must say i wasnt impressed with the interview coder code nor its organization. skimmed another of his repos and it was basically a minimal chat app wrapping a dozen-ish prompts along the lines of "you are the user's horny anime wife. chat horny style to them. but not tooo horny."

by zombiwoofon 3/27/25, 9:00 PM

My hero

by lofaszvanitton 3/27/25, 10:00 PM

middle finger army...

by brcmthrowawayon 3/27/25, 9:48 PM

Thiel Fellowship incoming.