Leetcode: Zero to Hero in ONE year

Sep 16, 2020 33 Comments

I have 12 yoe. I am comfortable using python for data science but struggle to solve even the easy Leetcode problems. I miss accounting for the edge cases, thinking about more than one pointer makes my brain hurt, any data structure other than array or hashtable is too esoteric for me to fathom. All of my data skills are self taught.

I believe that building proficiency in software development will be beneficial to my career in the long term. I don’t have those opportunities at work at the moment.

I want to take the long term view. How should I prepare so that I go from a LC zero to hero in ONE year.

#Teachmemaster #leetcode #learntolive

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  • take premium
    do learning cards first
    then company cards
    before interviews - top 50 company questions
    Sep 16, 2020 0
  • Roku
    cruelIa

    Go to company page Roku

    cruelIa
    There was a v good post here on how to go about it systematically. Lemme find it for ya.

    I’d say pick up CTCI or EPI first. Go thru them.
    And then

    Check out this post! "Master Leetcode Style Coding Interviews [STOLEN] (Software Engineering)"
    https://us.teamblind.com/s/qFvYbJqJ
    Sep 16, 2020 5
    • Cisco
      BJIQ78පොඩි

      Go to company page Cisco

      BJIQ78පොඩි
      Superb. This post allowed me to identify what areas I still have to get strong in - Trie, DP, Greedy and backtracking.
      Sep 17, 2020
    • Cisco
      BJIQ78

      Go to company page Cisco

      BJIQ78
      My progress to date:(total/completed)

      1. Array - 15/11
      2. Sliding Window - 9/3
      3. Two Pointers - 12/4
      4. Binary Search - 4/0
      5. Fast and Slow pointers - 6/5
      6. Merge Intervals - 6/4
      7. Cycle Sort - 5/2
      8. String - 19/8
      9. Linked List - 9/8
      10. Two Heaps - 3/0
      11. Linked List Reversal - 6/5
      12. Tree 9/7
      13. Tree Breadth First Search - 9/9
      14. Tree Depth First Search - 11/7
      15. Stacks/Queues - 15/2
      16. Top K Elements - 10/5
      17. K-Way Merge - 3/2
      18. Design - 4/2
      19. Backtracking - 27/14
      20. DP - 7/2
      21. Greedy - 18/3
      22. Graph BFS/DFS - 2/0
      23. Topo Sort - 5/3
      24. Union Find - 4/2
      25. Tries - 14/3
      26. Bit Manipulations -  14/14
      27. Other 3/0
      Sep 24, 2020
  • Honestly if you give yourself that long you will procrastinate. Give yourself 2-3 months from when you start studying to when you start mass applying. Pick up ctci to learn the fundamentals and then just grind easy/mediums as well as learn the well known hards.
    Sep 16, 2020 4
  • If you have a year, I strongly recommend EPI!
    Sep 16, 2020 6
  • New / Eng
    NotFermat

    New Eng

     NotFermat
    I started reading CTCI tonight after my Prime box arrived (thanks to all you hardworking, stressed-out Amazonian developers for sacrificing your WLB for 🍌s so I could get a book in two days). I also ordered EPI (Java) and it should be arriving in the next few days. I will read them sequentially before I attempt any LC problems. I’m sure it’ll be 6-8 months before I start prepping for systems design and then behavioral after all that is done. How anybody prepares in just 2 months just blows my mind. I’m a perfectionist so I’m sure I could cut corners here and there, but l want to follow a pace I can maintain and actually get some enjoyment out of the journey. I’m gonna compare this process to the only other really stressful time period in my life (outside kids) which was earning a MS in CS from a Top 20 school. Hopefully Covid will be behind us by the time I apply to companies (crossing fingers).
    Sep 17, 2020 8
    • New / Eng
      NotFermat

      New Eng

       NotFermat
      Very true but I couldn’t even now pass the “Tell me about yourself” question, lol. 😂

      I will basically apply to many Tier 1/2 companies and gain practice. Google isn’t the only company I’m targeting so if in a year I don’t pass their bar, then I’ll still be applying elsewhere and hopefully gaining interview experience along the way. Blind has provided enough companies which can pay senior SWEs > $250k TC with decent WLB that I should be fine.
      Sep 18, 2020
    • Cisco
      BJIQ78

      Go to company page Cisco

      BJIQ78
      LOL I hope I can get in sooner.
      Sep 18, 2020