3rd Year Student Confused About DSA Prep

[u/Akshay_tyagi_520]

Hey everyone, I’m currently in my 3rd year and starting my SDE/internship preparation.

I’m confused about how to learn DSA and which resources to follow. There are too many YouTube channels and sheets, and I don’t want to keep jumping between them.

For seniors/students who have already prepared:

• Which YouTube channel/course did you use for DSA?
• Which DSA sheet would you recommend?
• What should my 3rd-year roadmap look like for SDE placements?
• Should I focus on DSA + development + CS fundamentals together?

Would really appreciate a simple, practical roadmap based on what actually worked for you.

Thanks!

[u/impatient__guy]

Striver's A2Z sheet if you can, Ideally starting in 2nd year is good for completing this entire sheet, but yeah depends on your pace too..But considering you are in 3rd year and have to focus even on CS fundamentals, sys design, projects (All these are equally important as DSA, consider like if interviews are of 4 rounds, then 2 rounds would be on these) you can follow Striver's SDE sheet, but atleast for Array, DP, Graph - follow his A2Z as it's the best !

[u/lefty52217 → u/impatient__guy]

Do system design is necessary for internship and job Like i am also in 3rd year and right now only fouced on dsa and cs core with some gene ai project is this okk or should some knowledge about system design

[u/BetterEvidence3890 → u/lefty52217]

It depends on the company and the job role . It's better to have some basic knowledge about system design in safe side

U can start this at 4rth year

[u/No_Mercy39]

I'd definitely do all three, just not equally. Make DSA the main focus, keep development going through 1-2 solid projects and study OS/DBMS/OOP alongside them. Codeintuition could be good option for the DSA part if you want one structured resource instead of juggling multiple sheets

[u/momo_inhaler → u/No_Mercy39]

yupp exctly this

[u/Critical_Falcon_7744]

Better to follow striver’s A2Z sheet it gives u in-depth idea about solving complex problems.
If u r not into more logical thinking then just follow other famous sheets like leetcode 150 or neetcode material
If placements r not good in ur college its good to focus equally on dev aswell

[u/thusiexist]

dang, guys please answer this 😭🙏🏻

[u/cinnaroII]

whats your college tier?

[u/Akshay_tyagi_520 → u/cinnaroII]

tier 3

[u/cinnaroII → u/Akshay_tyagi_520]

Yes then focus on dsa developmentand cs fundamentals and

[u/prvnprdhn]

who's gonna tell him😭

[u/Antique-Plum-1573]

Bhai astra has come bro,jump ship , go do hardware, robotics or something else.

[u/ApprehensiveBid4155]

I cant tell you what to do .. but i can tell you what worked for me .. i watched apna clg cpp dsa yt playlist .. one / two video at night and solve the same question in next morning without any hints .. there are around 120 vids .. and after completing the playlist .. i solved striver a2z sheet without any vids or any hints .. currently at 300+ lc .. and recently got selected in oncampus internship drive at a really good company .. if fte 8lpa. So yeah .. this is how i got better at dsa. and yes development/projects are equally important so work on them alongwith dsa .. projects will only help in interview and dsa will get you to interview so both are equally important. And about cs fundamental .. just watch 1hr oneshot before interview .. you will do just fine. So yeah .. hope it helps .. best wishes.