It hurts to see hard work getting ignored in placements

I don’t usually post, but this has been bothering me a lot. I’ve seen people around me work insanely hard for placements—solving hundreds of problems, really understanding concepts, staying consistent for months. Some of them have done 800+ LeetCode questions. They genuinely deserve a fair shot. But when placement season starts, things feel… off. Most online assessments are taken from home, and let’s be honest—many people take advantage of that. I’ve seen students who struggle with even basic questions like Two Sum somehow clear these rounds. And then they end up getting shortlisted or even placed. At the same time, the people who actually worked hard don’t even get a chance to sit for interviews. I’m not saying this out of jealousy. It just feels unfair. It’s frustrating to watch someone who put in months (or years) of honest effort get filtered out because others gamed the system. You start questioning everything—does hard work even matter here? I know the system isn’t perfect, and maybe companies are doing what they can. But right now, it feels like sincerity is being punished while shortcuts are being rewarded. If you’ve felt this too, how do you deal with it? How do you stay motivated when things don’t feel fair? Would really like to hear others’ experiences.