Only way to code under pressure like that is with practice. I turn into an idiot non-coder in these situations, but I've gotten much better over time, to where I always pass a live coding session. In the real world, I spend a fair amount of time thinking and teasing a problem apart before I actually start coding. This is hard to do in an interview - even if the interviewer says "think about it for a few minutes", they will inevitably step in and offer a suggestion after 30s of silence. It's like you have to code by pure instinct. Which is doable with practice. But it's hugely skewed towards people who have the time or desire to practice such things.
This is why advice for passing the Google/etc. interview usually boils down to: Quit your job for a month and do competitive coding, and you will pass with ease.
This. I noticed that I have gone for over fifteen years through some pretty tough jobs, but never needed to write any Leetcode binary tree problem from scratch in thirty minutes in my work while being questioned. I normally freeze up because I worry about current best practices every step of the way.
In the end, I scored a job with a FAANG company literally because I didn't want to work there. A friend warned me away before the interview for work-life reasons, but I decided to go ahead with the interview anyway as practice and I nailed it. There's no reason to stress if you don't want the job. Another friend who worked there later convinced me to take the offer.
What bothers me is: you're basically the same coder both before and after competitive coding practice. You're only more marketable with the same skills.
>What bothers me is: you're basically the same coder both before and after competitive coding practice. You're only more marketable with the same skills.
Yup. You keep keep measuring that thing..I don't think you're measuring what you think you're measuring.
This is why advice for passing the Google/etc. interview usually boils down to: Quit your job for a month and do competitive coding, and you will pass with ease.