Latest news with #LeetCode
Economic Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Student techie builds AI tool to cheat six-figure-salary job interview, gets suspended but secures over $5 million in seed funding
iStock A Columbia University student, faced suspension for creating Cluely, an AI-powered job hacking tool. Despite the controversy sparked by his Amazon job offer video, Lee secured $5.3 million in seed funding for his startup. (Representational Image: iStock) In a digital age where artificial intelligence is rapidly rewriting the rules of productivity, one student has turned controversy into capital. Chungin 'Roy' Lee, a 21-year-old former Columbia University student, has developed an AI-powered job hacking tool that not only got him suspended but also fetched his startup a jaw-dropping $5.3 million in seed funding. Cluely, as the tool is now known, began its journey under the name Coder. It functions as an in-browser overlay that discreetly helps users answer coding questions during technical job interviews—particularly those common on platforms like LeetCode. 'I thought, why are we wasting time on these arbitrary puzzles?' Lee explained in an interview with TechCrunch, framing Cluely as a natural extension of tech aids like calculators and spell checkers once deemed 'cheating.' Lee's ambitions took a controversial turn when he posted a video using the tool to secure a job offer from Amazon. The video went viral—and not in the way he'd hoped. According to Lee, Amazon was 'extremely upset' and allegedly contacted Columbia University with an ultimatum: suspend the student or risk being blacklisted from Amazon's hiring pool. What followed was a disciplinary hearing and Lee's suspension from Columbia. Speaking to Dr. Phil, Lee expressed disbelief: 'Obviously, I'm upset because Columbia is supposed to be training the future generation of leaders... I thought, as an Ivy League institution, anyone who's going to openly embrace their students using AI for various purposes that had nothing to do with the school, it'd be Columbia.' Despite the backlash, Cluely's success is undeniable. The startup, co-founded with COO Neel Shanmugam, has already crossed a $3 million average annual return in the first half of 2025, according to TechCrunch. Its tagline, 'Cheat on Everything,' has made it both notorious and fascinating. In a promo video bordering on parody, Lee demonstrates how Cluely could eventually integrate into AR glasses, helping users lie their way through social situations—like pretending to appreciate art on a first date. Critics compared the clip to an episode of Black Mirror, while others saw it as tongue-in-cheek genius. Either way, it made headlines. Lee's story throws open a thorny debate: in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms, what does 'cheating' even mean anymore? Is Cluely a symptom of a broken system that values puzzles over potential—or a tech-savvy shortcut that undermines meritocracy?
Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Student techie builds AI tool to cheat six-figure-salary job interview, gets suspended but secures over $5 million in seed funding
In a digital age where artificial intelligence is rapidly rewriting the rules of productivity , one student has turned controversy into capital. Chungin 'Roy' Lee, a 21-year-old former Columbia University student, has developed an AI-powered job hacking tool that not only got him suspended but also fetched his startup a jaw-dropping $5.3 million in seed funding. Cluely, as the tool is now known, began its journey under the name Coder. It functions as an in-browser overlay that discreetly helps users answer coding questions during technical job interviews—particularly those common on platforms like LeetCode. 'I thought, why are we wasting time on these arbitrary puzzles?' Lee explained in an interview with TechCrunch, framing Cluely as a natural extension of tech aids like calculators and spell checkers once deemed 'cheating.' Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Others CXO Design Thinking PGDM Product Management Cybersecurity MCA Artificial Intelligence Public Policy Operations Management Project Management Leadership Data Analytics others Healthcare Digital Marketing Degree Finance MBA Data Science healthcare Management Data Science Technology Skills you'll gain: Duration: 7 Months S P Jain Institute of Management and Research CERT-SPJIMR Exec Cert Prog in AI for Biz India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 9 months IIM Lucknow SEPO - IIML CHRO India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT-ISB Transforming HR with Analytics & AI India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 28 Weeks MICA CERT-MICA SBMPR Async India Starts on undefined Get Details When Amazon Called, Columbia Answered Lee's ambitions took a controversial turn when he posted a video using the tool to secure a job offer from Amazon. The video went viral—and not in the way he'd hoped. According to Lee, Amazon was 'extremely upset' and allegedly contacted Columbia University with an ultimatum: suspend the student or risk being blacklisted from Amazon's hiring pool. What followed was a disciplinary hearing and Lee's suspension from Columbia. Speaking to Dr. Phil, Lee expressed disbelief: 'Obviously, I'm upset because Columbia is supposed to be training the future generation of leaders... I thought, as an Ivy League institution, anyone who's going to openly embrace their students using AI for various purposes that had nothing to do with the school, it'd be Columbia.' The Morality of Automation Despite the backlash, Cluely's success is undeniable. The startup, co-founded with COO Neel Shanmugam, has already crossed a $3 million average annual return in the first half of 2025, according to TechCrunch. Its tagline, 'Cheat on Everything,' has made it both notorious and fascinating. — code_star (@code_star) In a promo video bordering on parody, Lee demonstrates how Cluely could eventually integrate into AR glasses, helping users lie their way through social situations—like pretending to appreciate art on a first date. Critics compared the clip to an episode of Black Mirror, while others saw it as tongue-in-cheek genius. Either way, it made headlines. MORE STORIES FOR YOU ✕ « Back to recommendation stories I don't want to see these stories because They are not relevant to me They disrupt the reading flow Others SUBMIT Lee's story throws open a thorny debate: in a world increasingly dominated by algorithms, what does 'cheating' even mean anymore? Is Cluely a symptom of a broken system that values puzzles over potential—or a tech-savvy shortcut that undermines meritocracy?
India Today
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
In a world that celebrates hustling, Soham Parekh is what you get
There is a popular adage: Hate the game, don't hate the player. Nowhere has it applied as aptly as it does in the Soham Parekh saga. The man is the talk of the town in San Francisco and Bengaluru. Aka within the IT industry. Reason? Soham is a player who is playing the game of hustling so well that he is its Messi and Ronaldo rolled into one. As mysterious as TS Eliot's Macavity, he is also like the same cat, nowhere and everywhere all at once. Soham is the apex hustler that you get in a world where work is all about hustling and money, and nothing call Soham a scammer. Some say he is a genius. Some say he is in the US. Some swear - pinky promise - that they have texts from him confirming that he is in India. Some say he worked 20 hours a day. Some say all his work was farmed out to a team of coders he employed. Soham's CV says he was once at Georgia Tech in the US. The university says it has no such record. Some say Soham is a great engineer. A few others say they fired him within days of hiring him. Yes, Soham is the talk of the before we look at the game, let's try to seize the player. Soham is a 26-year-old software engineer currently based in the US, or so we learn from all the chatter so far. He finished his Bachelor's in computers from the University of Mumbai and, apparently since 2020, is finding a way into internships, fellowships and remote jobs in various Silicon Valley startups. He has apparently cleared job interviews, which can be quite technical with all the LeetCode questions, over 70 times in the last four years, and at times, he has worked four to five jobs simultaneously, reportedly without informing his other words, he has hustled, and has not just hustled but has done it in a way that defies all logic or common sense. Somewhat like Macavity of TS Eliot, which could defy the laws of gravity, Soham has flown under the radar all this while. Compared to Macavity, 'there never was a cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.' The words might as well describe more and more people from Silicon Valley talked about their own interactions with Soham, the man, the myth, the hero and the villain of the moment, himself stepped forward in an interview on Friday. 'I am not proud of what I've done,' said Soham. 'But, you know, financial circumstances, essentially. No one really likes to work 140 hours a week, right? But I had to do this out of necessity.'The claim reeks of disingenuity. And it probably is. But is it really the fault of Soham that he gamed the entire Silicon Valley recruitment process? Or that he doesn't care enough about his job - one job - to sit down with it and give it everything he can, instead of doing multiple jobs at the same time and relying on deceits? The question is more complex than you might think. And the answer is more revealing than you might the early 21st century, for this reason and that, we now live in a world where hustling is not only celebrated but is probably even needed if you wish to carve out a space for yourself. Everything, including work, has become ONLY about money. Sure, money has always been an important factor in our lives, but in the last few decades, it has become the ultimate arbiter with which we make our life choices. Everything else has become your passion doesn't pay, then it is not worth chasing. If your marriage is not going to bring financial advantage, then it is not a good marriage. If your work is not going to pay you, then you need to get out of it even if it nourishes your soul and gives you joy. In fact, the joy and meaning itself is now all about is a culture now that celebrates hustling. It doesn't matter that you make money through OnlyFans. What matters is that you make money. It doesn't matter that you make money jumping through jobs every six months, it doesn't matter that jumping through hoops doesn't let you create anything significant. What matters the most is that you are getting the there is plenty of money to be made this way. Soham understood that brilliantly and early. In an email reportedly sent by Soham to a tech founder, he claimed that he loved building and creating things. But his actions don't match his words. You can't build something great if you are changing the nature of your work and workplace every few months.A few years ago, I was reading Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich. Like her other books, this one too is a collection of oral histories. The book straddles memories of people who lived in Soviet Russia as well as through the time when it disintegrated in the 1990s. In it, whenever people were talking about their life, there was one common thread that emerged. Almost all of them said that their world changed after the 1990s because some core values - commitment, passion, deeply-held belief in a purpose and mission - in their lives were replaced by money. And with money came hustling. Many Russians hated it. One said, 'The world is shit, all people are w****s, and the sun is just a f***ing street light.'advertisementBut the change was also welcomed by many Russians, mostly young or well-connected, who could hustle faster and better than others. There is one named Alisa Z, who is in this camp. 'It's the twenty-first century: It's all about money, sex, and two smoking barrels,' she tells Alexievich. "People are interested in the beautiful life. It's what's on everyone's mind.'Alisa is quite prescient in seeing which way the wind was blowing, and that beautiful life means a life of money. She talks of reading Dead Souls, a story of deceit that Russian children would read in school to understand how people scam each other. 'Dead Souls is a tale of a swindler. That's what they taught us in school,' she says. 'Today, the children are a different breed. (They think) What makes him so bad? He built a pyramid scheme up out of nothing. It's a cool idea for a business!'advertisementSince the early 2000s, the culture of hustling and primacy of money has only grown. As the old world and norms wither away, we are yet again in a world where success means just one thing and one thing only - how much money do you have? In fact, within some industries and societies, monetary success is so necessary and celebrated in such a way that there is no other way but to hustle. 'I hate people who grew up in poverty, their pauper's mentality,' Alisa told the writer of Secondhand Time. 'I don't like the poor, the insulted and the humiliated.'Well, with her words, Alisa might have been channelling the spirit of current Silicon Valley tech founders and technocrats, who walk around carrying the gospel of Peter Thiel. In such a world, Soham did what anyone would do - notice the crack and seize the opportunity. He might not have done anything honourable, but then we live in a dishonourable world and a man gotta do what he gotta do.(Javed Anwer is Technology Editor, India Today Group Digital. Latent Space is a weekly column on tech, world, and everything in between. The name comes from the science of AI and to reflect it, Latent Space functions in the same way: by simplifying the world of tech and giving it a context)- Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Trending Reel
Time of India
04-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Building the next generation of tech professionals: Traditional interviews out, companies gamify aptitude assessment
HYDERABAD: Excelling in group discussions or answering tough technical questions alone might not land you a job after graduation. Many companies are now opting for gamified aptitude assessments, virtual interviews and online exam to better gauge capabilities. Over 60% institutes reported that entry-level tests were significantly redesigned in the past two years, reflecting the shift toward more skillbased evaluation, according to a NASSCOM report, 'Building the Next Generation of Tech Professionals'. Employers are increasingly looking at coding proficiency, logical reasoning and real-world situations involving Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning while hiring candidates. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad ' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với sàn môi giới tin cậy IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo Many top companies have stopped coming for placement drives. Now, it's all about students' capabilities and online profiles. For any coding job, companies see coding profiles on sites such as LeetCode and CodeChef to assess students' skills by seeing their ratings. They are also conducting coding competitions,' said NLN Reddy, director, career development cell, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology. He said companies are also looking at global certifications in emerging tech courses to assess candidates' interest in their chosen field. Companies are even hiring through own portals or third-party services, offering live evaluation to prevent manipulation by candidates. Even the NASSCOM report highlighted how companies are using platforms such as HackerRank, HackerEarth, CodeSignal, Codility, Phenom and HireVue to screen candidates across a range of skills in a virtual set-up with AI-driven evaluation support. He said that unlike the earlier practice of screening tests for all final year students, companies are now showing interest in only those with good profiles – internships, projects, and certifications. 'Most companies either have hackathons or coding rounds. Some even have both,' said C Vinod Kumar from Forum for IT Employees.
Arabian Post
17-06-2025
- Arabian Post
LeetCode Java Solutions Gain Traction with Cleaner, Smarter Code
LeetCode's Java ecosystem is evolving beyond mere algorithmic correctness, with a growing emphasis on code quality metrics such as readability, maintainability, and performance profiling. Practitioners are advancing from writing bare-bones solutions to refining their work through rigorous complexity analysis and structured refactoring. LeetCode-in-Java, a prominent community resource hosting over 300 Java-based interview questions, lists the time complexity and space usage for each problem, aiding developers in benchmarking their approaches. But coding interviews today demand more than just a correct answer—they require holistic software design skills. A Medium feature on refactoring emphasises this shift, urging developers to assess time‑space complexity and then improve code clarity and structure post-solution. Industry voices critique LeetCode's environment for fostering overly optimized single‑run code that fails to reflect real‑world requirements. On Reddit, one experienced engineer noted many 'optimal' solutions are impractical for evolving specifications, urging a focus on maintainability over micro‑optimisation. As a result, echoing best practices from Java development, many practitioners now systematically refactor LeetCode solutions—using meaningful naming, extracting methods, avoiding magic constants, and de‑duplicating code, in line with recognized Java refactoring strategies. ADVERTISEMENT Empirical software‑engineering research reinforces the importance of such practices. A 2022 study tracking 785,000 Java methods found that maintaining routines under 24 lines significantly reduced maintenance effort. Similarly, classes named with suffixes like 'Utils' or 'Handler' were shown to harbour disproportionately high complexity—underlining the need for careful class design in production code. While LeetCode solutions may be small in scale, imbuing them with production‑grade discipline reflects professional development standards. When evaluating complexity, runtime benchmarks on LeetCode can mislead. As one software engineer commented via LinkedIn, the same code submission often records drastically different performance results—sometimes varying from top 9% to bottom 49%—making single-run statistics unreliable. The consensus is that complexity analysis should rely on theoretical Big‑O calculations and profiling tools, rather than on platform‑dependent runtime rankings. Leading Java‑centric LeetCode repositories, such as Stas Levin's 'LeetCode‑refactored,' offer annotated solutions that juxtapose common community code with clean‑code versions enhanced for readability and maintainability. These repositories emphasise abstractions that separate concerns and reflect developers' mental models—crucial traits for collaborative engineering. Comparing different practitioners' approaches highlights notable contrasts. Algorithm‑centric contributions typically deliver maximum efficiency but often sacrifice clarity. By contrast, clean‑code variants—extracted into discrete helper methods, elegantly named, and trimmed of magic numbers—raise maintainability, occasionally at the cost of some performance headroom. Experts recommend a balanced trade‑off: start with a correct algorithm, validate its complexity, then refactor iteratively, keeping an eye on time/space costs. Several improvement areas still persist. Developers often overlook test coverage when practising LeetCode, missing opportunities to adopt red‑green‑refactor cycles anchored in unit tests—best practice in professional Java work. In addition, object‑oriented design in LeetCode is rarely leveraged: functions are frequently static, bypassing opportunities to modularise logic into cohesive classes. Shared repository conventions like 'Utils' classes frequently miss cohesion standards, a warning echoed by empirical studies. Despite limitations in performance metrics, industry feedback indicates LeetCode remains valuable for demonstrating disciplined problem solving. Profiles of hiring managers show that, while they value clean and explainable code, technical interviews still often triage via algorithmic performance under time pressure, so balancing both dimensions is essential.
