Are you saying that if you've got one candidate who has not worked on personal projects and/or leetcode, and one who doesn't, and their backgrounds are similar otherwise, and you've only got time to call one, you'd flip a coin?
I'm not making any hiring decisions based on leetcode, I just think it's a signal that a candidate is serious about their work ethic. But from what I've seen the candidates who had impressive personal projects have more often been significantly more productive coders. Again, that doesn't mean it's a hiring decision, but it means putting the resume on top of the stack for me at least.
edit: also disclaimer I've literally never seen a resume that said the candidate had done leetcode. Maybe that's a thing that happens more at larger companies with more ambitious candidates?
