Why I still grind DSA after a 9-to-5

The tagline rotating through this site's nav says it plainly enough: 9 to 5 pays the bills, 5 to 9 builds the future. Most days, the 5-to-9 part is just DSA problems in JavaScript.

The actual reason

It's tempting to say "for interviews," and sure, that's part of it. But the more honest answer: building REST APIs and React components — the bulk of a backend-leaning full-stack day — mostly exercises a different muscle. Data modeling, API shape, state management, integration bugs. Rarely "what's the right data structure for this," in the raw, no-framework-to-hide-behind sense.

DSA practice is the part of the day where the problem is fully specified and the only variable is how well I think. No ambiguous requirements, no "actually the client wants it to also do X." Just: here's the input, here's the constraint, go.

What sticks

Not the specific problems — most of those blur together after a while. What sticks:

• A faster instinct for "this is going to be O(n²) at scale, don't"
• Recognizing when a "clever" solution is actually just avoiding a hash map
• Patience for sitting with a problem before reaching for the first idea that compiles

None of that shows up as a line on a resume. It shows up as fewer embarrassing for loops nested inside for loops in a PR three months later.