Advice for self taught 0 - 100 LC

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gg7jc

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gg7jc
Nov 21, 2019 14 Comments

Any advice for those who are self taught and wants to become a leetcode expert?

Any specific courses/books in order?

Right now im going through a bunch of codewars to become better at python and problem solving.

After, ill go through Princetons algos coursera part 1 & 2,

then Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena (book and youtube course),

then Leetcode + CTCI and EPI

TC: 48k
YOE: less than a year

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TOP 14 Comments
  • Amazon
    zOQP72

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    zOQP72
    Just consistently solve algos everyday that are just above your level. Think about them whenever you have time like on the bus or in the shower. Once you've solved around 1-200 it'll start clicking. 3-400 you should be able to land a FANG job. 600+ you'll start getting multiple good offers and top bucket salary. You'll also be able to solve competitive programming problems and algos should be pretty fun for you now
    It is slow to ramp up but eventually you'll solve multiple problems a day easily.
    Nov 21, 2019 4
  • Amazon / Eng
    4j(v5c2j#

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    4j(v5c2j#
    Self thought engineer here.

    Robert Sedgwick's Algorithms part 1 and 2
    Lots of Leetcode. Start at easy, and do some harder ones. Work your way up.

    Designing data intensive algorithms

    Of course, I had 6 years of professional experience before I joined Amazon

    TC $220k
    Nov 21, 2019 2
    • New
      gg7jc

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      gg7jc
      OP
      Thanks! What was your approach for LC at first? Right now for codewars, if I can’t solve it, I look at the best solution then try to solve it again using that solution by memory
      Nov 21, 2019
    • Amazon / Eng
      4j(v5c2j#

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      4j(v5c2j#
      I honestly sucked at it - hard. Until I took the Sedgwick course.

      I tried to solve it through sheer will power. If it took me 8 hours to solve a problem, then that's what it took. You start developing problem solving patterns, and it gets easier.
      Not sure if that's the best approach though. Works for me
      Nov 22, 2019
  • Read topcoder articles on algorithms and DS and study their practice problems
    They are the best material.
    For a sample, read Topcoder article on Binary Search.
    Let me know if you did not feel the goosebumps.
    Nov 21, 2019 2
  • Citadel
    BrutеForce

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    BrutеForce
    MIT CS course on YouTube
    Nov 21, 2019 0
  • VMware
    jyoC60

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    jyoC60
    Follow a standard textbook like cormen. Learn a topic then solve the problems related to that topic on leetcode or Hackerrank. If you are struck on a problem then look at the editorial and then try to solve it. Start with standard problems to grasp the basic concepts. Codesignal has a good collection standard problems. An addon to cormen can be Algorithms book by Jeff E.
    The dynamic programming and graphs portion is really well explained in that book and has a lot of examples.
    Nov 21, 2019 1
    • New
      gg7jc

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      gg7jc
      OP
      I like this approach. Learn the topic in a book then solve the problems on LC. Then continue with next topic. First time hearing about it. Thanks!
      Nov 21, 2019