Let's be honest about what's happening here.
You've been grinding for weeks—maybe months. You've solved enough problems that your streak counter looks respectable. You should feel good about this.
Instead, you feel... dead inside.
The thought of opening LeetCode fills you with dread. Every problem looks like every other problem. You read the description three times and still don't understand what it's asking. You used to enjoy coding. Now you're not sure you even like it anymore.
Congratulations. You've achieved LeetCode burnout.
If you've been wondering why "fuck leetcode" is one of the most commonly searched phrases around interview prep, now you know. This feeling is universal. And it's not because you're weak, lazy, or not cut out for engineering.
It's because the grind is genuinely soul-crushing when done wrong.
Let's talk about what's actually happening, why it happens, and how to get through it without quitting tech forever.
Let's name the symptoms so you can stop wondering if you're just "being lazy":
You know you "should" practice. It's on your to-do list. You've blocked time for it. And yet, when that time comes, every fiber of your being resists. You'd rather clean your apartment, organize your sock drawer, watch videos about productivity instead of being productive.
This isn't laziness. This is your brain protecting you from something it has learned to associate with pain.
You solved 200+ problems. If someone asked you to explain any of them right now, you'd stare blankly.
Where did all that work go? Why can't you remember any of it?
(Answer: because reps without retention systems don't stick. But it feels like you're stupid, which makes everything worse.)
You've been doing this for months. You should be getting better. Instead, it feels like you're getting worse.
Problems that seemed approachable now seem impossible. Easy problems feel hard. Medium problems feel impossible. Hard problems might as well be written in ancient Sumerian.
Here's the scariest part: you used to love coding.
Building things. Debugging problems. That satisfaction when something finally works.
Now you're not sure if you ever want to write code again. LeetCode hasn't just burned you out on interview prep—it's made you question your entire career choice.
Burnout isn't random. It follows predictable patterns. Here's what's probably happening:
You track problems solved and daily streaks. Interviewers grade clarity, adaptability, and edge-case thinking—none of which appear on your dashboard.
When your progress metric doesn't match the skill you need, you can "succeed" by your own measure and still feel like you're failing at the actual goal.
Long-term retention requires:
Without these, last week's insights are gone by next Monday. So you keep solving problems and keep forgetting them, Sisyphus-style.
Interviews are performance. They're social, verbal, high-pressure.
Practicing in silence, alone, with unlimited time, is like training for a marathon by walking on a treadmill. You're moving, but you're not building the muscle that matters.
After work, you have to decide:
Every decision burns cognitive energy. By the time you've chosen what to practice, you have nothing left for actual practice.
"If I don't pass FAANG this quarter, I'm clearly not cut out for this."
When every practice session becomes a referendum on your worth as an engineer, no wonder you're dreading it.
Burnout isn't fixed by "trying harder." It's fixed by changing the structure of how you practice.
Here's what actually works:
If you're deep in burnout, the first step is not "a better study plan."
It's rest.
Take 3-7 days completely off from LeetCode. Not "light practice." Not "just reviewing notes." Complete zero.
Do something you actually enjoy. Remember what it feels like to not dread your evenings.
The system that burned you out won't un-burn you out.
When you come back, you're not returning to "grinding harder." You're returning to a different approach entirely.
The fastest way to drain learning is peeking at full solutions.
Instead, climb a ladder only as high as you need:
If you need more than three hints, stop. Walk away. Return later.
This keeps the reps that build intuition while removing the "I have no idea where to start" paralysis that kills motivation.
Most interview fails aren't syntax errors—they're edge cases.
After your first passing run, ask: "What 3 inputs would embarrass this solution?"
Generate them, batch-run them, and when something breaks (it will), write a one-line note about the failure mode.
This shifts your mindset from "I hope it works" to "I already tried to break it"—exactly the confidence that interviews reward.
Long notes don't get reviewed. Two-minute notes do.
After each problem:
Tag it (#array, #window, #dp) and schedule reviews for Day 3, Day 7, Day 30.
Once a week, run a 30-minute mock:
Your goal isn't to "win" the mock. It's to discover what to train next week: Is it clarity? Pacing? Edge-case instincts?
Every tab switch, every copy-paste, every context loss drains energy you could use for learning.
The ideal flow keeps everything in-page: get a hint, run edge cases, visualize the hard part, save a quick note—all without leaving the problem.
Tools like LeetCopilot are designed for exactly this: progressive hints without spoilers, edge-case generation, quick notes—all built into the LeetCode page so you never lose context.
Here's how to come back from burnout without immediately re-burning out:
Daily (60-90 minutes max):
End of Week:
Even with a better system, burnout can creep back. Watch for:
If these show up: take another break. A 4-day pause now is better than a 4-week collapse later.
For more on the mental game, see our guide on how to stay calm when stuck on LeetCode problems.
Is burnout just a lack of willpower?
No. Burnout is a system failure. If the same system burned you out once, more willpower won't fix it—you need a different system.
How many problems do I actually need to solve?
Many people stabilize after 40-60 well-learned problems if they review properly and focus on pattern recognition. 300+ is unnecessary for most interviews.
What if I take a break and lose all my progress?
You won't. Skills decay slowly with rest. But they decay fast with burnout-driven avoidance. A structured break is better than an unstructured collapse.
How do I know when I'm ready to practice again after a break?
When the dread is gone. When opening LeetCode feels neutral rather than actively terrible. That's your signal.
What if my interview is in 2 weeks and I'm already burned out?
Reduce volume, not quality. Do fewer problems but maintain the hint ladder, edge-case testing, and note-taking. Better to arrive at the interview exhausted-but-prepared than burned-out-and-blank.
LeetCode burnout isn't weakness. It's the predictable result of a flawed system: grinding without retention, practicing without feedback, measuring progress without learning.
The fix isn't more hours. It's better structure.
Take the break you need. Change how you practice. Keep the reps that build skill, remove the friction that burns you out.
You're not broken. Your old approach was. And now you have a new one.
Ready to rebuild with less friction? LeetCopilot offers progressive hints, edge-case generation, and quick notes—all in-page. Less tab-switching, more learning, faster recovery from the grind.
LeetCopilot is a free browser extension that enhances your LeetCode practice with AI-powered hints, personalized study notes, and realistic mock interviews — all designed to accelerate your coding interview preparation.
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