CTCI vs Elements of Interviews
YOE: 15 as Java, includes 8 as Android. TC: π₯π₯ Loc: NYC / NJ. Skill-Level: Moderately senior with a good grasp of basic programming elements sufficient for Interviews but insufficient to land an offer so far!! 1) What is better prep material for the type of interview questions I must anticipate? 2) Does acquiring an ability to be able to define the name of the pattern for the interview question or the solution / plan-of-attack help? 3) If your suggestion is "Why not both?", What's a good one to start and then move on to the next?
EPI + Leetcode
I used elements and leetcode for my prep. I felt elements to be more in depth in terms of technical explanations of important concepts. Along with it, it also gives an overview of important java API you need to know for a particular data structures. I just went through the interview questions sections for each concept in ctci after I finished the conceptual explanation and questions in elements.
^^ This ^^
Did you also do mock interviews with a friend or Pramp?
Don't waste your time on books. Books are not very helpful because what you need is deliberate practice not reading books. Go to LeetCode (LintCode), everything from EPI/CTCI is already on LC with much better code/explanation. The key is to practice in a large amount and with speed repeatedly.
Leetcode everyday