The prep itself may not be that hard. Depending on your non-work life, finding the time to do said prep may be difficult. I would like to double my comp. I also have young kids who occupy most of my wake-work and then work-sleep time. There are maybe three hours at the end of the day that aren't spoken for, but then there's housework, spouse time, and just being tired. It's difficult to fit "grind leetcode" in there. This is due to choices I've made, and I'm happy with those choices! I blame no one but myself for them. But I also think I'd make a good employee at leetcode interview companies were it not for the leetcode, and I think there are a good number of people like me.
If it’s helpful i got into the leetcode grind in a similar situation by getting up 60-90 minutes early and doing 1-2 questions a few times a week. Thoroughly understanding top 50-100 questions will take you very far. So long as you do similar questions in groups (ex: all binary tree questions) it makes it easier to understand and retain. Then even if you take long breaks between study (months), you’ll mostly retain the underlying techniques and can just refresh when it’s time to interview (ex: a week off work for a final review). it’s very annoying. But don’t sell youself short, you can mix the grind with breaks to retain some sanity. Just make sure to have a plan (ex: do top 100 questions )
