I can't even do one leetcode medium / hard problems
I tried leetcode medium / hard problems. Stuck there for weeks (not looking for solutions on Google). I feel like I can never complete at least one, while the whole blind community racing on leetcode. I'm fairly good developer, I know most of the datastructures / alg's. top performer most of the times. Still can't finish leetcode medium / hard. Anyone in same boat ? How to get better at it ? Any helpful material I should be reading before starting leetcode ? Experience: 6 Years TC: 140K
I wouldn’t beat myself up about it. The question is why are you doing leetcode? If it’s for interview prep then you can rest assured that Hard-type questions basically never show up in interviews (maybe if you get a primadonna engineer who’s there to lord over you rather than assess you). If you can consistently and quickly crack Easy questions and reasonably solve Medium questions you’re generally pretty set. Also remember that if you can get the non-optimal solution correct that’s 80% of the battle. It’s rare to be expected to nail the fully optimal solution - the naive solution + discussion of points of optimization is the baseline. If you’re doing it purely for fun, keep at it and enjoy! TC 650K YoE 10
Practice will help. I used to hate solving LC problems as I was not good at it. I have been practicing for two months now and I think it has really helped me.
LC is all about practice. It's okay if u can't do mediums (and don't even worry about hards) If u can't do most mediums , focus on brushing up the basics and then trying to identify problems into buckets (of solution)
Check out on LC's forum, they have there some good posts with "path to follow". Would definitely recommend taking those problem paths as they are linked somewhat one to another and give you enough knowledge to solve harder ones. Also, some of them have hints, whenever I encounter one like those I think I'm at an interview and if I can't think of a solution in 10 minutes, the I'd open a hint, if I can't again in the next 10 minutes, would try hint 2. After that point I should be able to do it. Also, don't jump for the most optimal solution first. Make it work in the beginning and then try to do it better.
Would you mind dropping a link to one of the "path to follow" posts? I am unable to find any on the forums
Like these ones: https://leetcode.com/discuss/general-discussion/460599/blind-75-leetcode-questions https://leetcode.com/discuss/general-discussion/459840/How-to-use-Leet-Code-effectively-for-interview-preparation/ And as some helpful posts: https://leetcode.com/discuss/general-discussion/459783/What-not-to-do-in-LeetCode/ https://leetcode.com/discuss/general-discussion/459719/Steps-for-solving-a-LeetCode-Problem/ Their forum is full of people that need help and also full of posts that already clear 95% of those problems. You just need to do 5-10 minutes of research and you'll find all of them
Took me 3 months before I was comfortable doing easy, another 3 months before i could do medium. for some the curve is steeper in the beginning.
6 yoe but your TC is only 140K? That doesn't sound right.
Shit mines not really that much higher and I have double the YOE, I know this is blind but most SWE jobs across the country don’t pay FAANG level pay
Op do some codingbat, codesignal etc first
Don't waste so much time on trying to fig it out. Time box 30 mins. Can't fig out? Look at solution, read geeksforgeeks, implement solution (multipleways if possible) and walk through several test cases on paper especially if solution is recursive or dp, Implement again with NO resources, find another simular problem try again. Then move on and come back in a couple days/weeks and try again.
Some LC hard I don’t think I’d ever get the optimal solution alone, just gotta read answer and understand it. LC medium are not bad at all tho. Just keep practicing Edit: TC 270k YoE: 8