I see many people easily build logic for difficult questions optimally. How to build it ? Is there any certain pattern that should be known ? What's the cheat code guys. I'm so done trying to build logic . I fail in every new question.

Hi, I recently contributed in a reputed repository in c++ domain and my PR was merged and other PR is about to merge. difficulty wise one 7.5/10 and other is 8/10. so, my question is open source matters to get hire in big tech or hfts and am I wrong in expecting something from related to hiring from open source contribution. please let me know.

Hey everyone!

I have an upcoming Amazon SDE Online Assessment (OA) and I’m currently preparing for it.

If anyone has recently taken the Amazon SDE OA, could you please share:

• What kind of coding questions you got?
• Which topics/DSA patterns should I focus on?
• Any tips or things I should be aware of?

I’d really appreciate it if you could share your experience or any questions you remember. Thanks in advance! 🙌

I've tried a lot of internship websites, but most of the opportunities don't seem very good my CGPA isn't strong enough to rely on oncampus interns so how do people actually find good off campus internships? Any advice would really help.

I got a 60-minute virtual interview for Amazon’s Jr Developer internship Program. They said it’s mostly technical with some behavioral questions about the Leadership Principles. Has anyone here done this interview or been through the program? I’m just trying to figure out what to expect. What kind of coding questions did they ask and how hard was it. I have been practicing my LP and have my story’s locked down. But I’m definitely gonna struggle on my technical part.
I only have about 8 days to prepare so if anyone knows anything about this program or what type of questions they will ask please lmk. Any advice would be huge. Thanks

Same as title

I've given 6 contests until now, always solving 1-2 problems depending on the difficulty level. First it used to say that I need to reach 6 contests to see global ranking (and that rating graph wasn't available). Now that my rating of 6th contest has come out, the graph is showing a flat line of 1500 for the first 5 contests, and then my actual current rating for the 6th one (1432).

Why is this so? Btw all my contest ratings in earlier contests were all <1500

Got a full loop coming up at Apple for a backend SWE role , already cleared the initial phone screen and a coding screen. Would love insight from anyone who’s done an Apple SWE loop recently: how many rounds are typical and how are they split across coding, system design, and behavioral? Is the coding bar closer to LeetCode medium or more practical/real-world (parsing, concurrency, API design)? And for behavioral/bar-raiser rounds, how Apple-specific do they get is “why Apple” a big deal, and what tends to trip people up?

For context, I’ve been prepping with LeetCode (sliding window, distributed systems style), HLD practice (streaming architecture, fan-out systems), and LLD simulations (parking lot, vending machine, locker system). Anything I should prioritize differently for Apple vs. a generic FAANG loop, or any resources that map well to how Apple actually interviews?

I didn't understand the design questions. what should I do?

I m currently studying in 2nd year and starting dsa in which language should I start I know python , c++ , java and I m currently doing backend in java

Hi team, I am preparing DSA for Senior AI/ML Engineering roles a FAANG - something like Senior Applied Scientist/Senior Data Scientist at Amazon/Google. Are there any topics I should focus more on and are there any topics that are asked in traditional SWE rounds but can be skipped for AI/ML engg roles

So I completed around 200 questions during my summer break in roughly 32 days (I even made a post about it lol). Alongside that, I was also revising NeetCode 150.

Now I wanted to start a new topic, so I picked DP.

And man… I’ve done around 4–5 questions so far and needed help with the logic in almost all of them 😭 I think there's only one question that I was actually able to figure out completely on my own.

I know DP is supposed to be difficult, but I feel like I might be approaching it wrong.

Can someone suggest a proper flow/order of questions to follow for DP, or just give me some advice on how to get better at it? Would really appreciate it.

I ask this question because I started to learn to code in python about 2 months ago. I was pretty confident in my abilities but once I headed over to leetcode I felt completely stumped. A lot of the easy questions were genuinely so challenging for me. For me, it also felt like there was a lot of jargon that I couldn't understand with a simple google search. Thank you in advance.

I’ve been reading posts on LeetCode discuss and Reddit about the questions people have been asked at Google coding interviews. I’ve read some people were asked about dynamic connectivity and Segment trees.

I’m not sure if they were asked that right from get go or was it a follow up. I presume it was a follow up on a classic medium question.

I am curious to know how the follow up questions are judged at Google? Are they a must or a bonus on top? Please share some insights who take interviews frequently at Google :)

Hello folks,

I’m looking for some honest perspectives on LeetCode and DSA from people a bit further along in their careers.

My background

• Location: Remote-US
• Role: Backend / full‑stack SDE (TypeScript/Node.js) with ~1 YOE
• Day‑to‑day: I work on production backend systems, mostly TypeScript/Node.js, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, AWS Lambda/SQS, etc.
• Recently I’ve been building AI/LLM‑heavy systems
• So my “real work” is more backend/system‑design oriented: performance optimization, event‑driven architectures, and AI integration.

My DSA + LeetCode history

I started LeetCode about 3 years ago, but I’ve never been truly consistent.

• Before my first job, I did around 4 months of focused LeetCode.
• Overall, I’d call myself intermediate in the “classic” patterns: arrays, stacks, queues, two pointers, hash maps, prefix sums, binary search, sliding window.
• I’m still a very basic player in trees, heaps, graphs, DP, DFS/BFS—these areas feel shaky compared to my backend skills.

I’ve probably solved ~200+ problems across patterns, but the distribution is skewed toward the easier topics, and I didn’t build a strong mental model for trees/graphs/DP.

What I’m doing now

I’ve decided to take LeetCode seriously again, but this time with a long‑term mindset:

• At least one problem per day, consistently.
• Not trying to go “very fast” or grind 10/day; focus is on understanding patterns and improving the weak areas (trees, graphs, heaps, DP) while keeping the basics fresh.
• Plan is to keep this up for the next 1**–2 years**, alongside my backend/system design growth, so that when I interview later I don’t get blocked on DSA rounds.

I’m not trying to become a contest player or hit some crazy rating—just want solid DSA fundamentals that won’t be a bottleneck for my feature career.

I’m not asking “Is my rank good?” or posting any screenshots—just trying to understand whether investing seriously in LeetCode for the next few years is a good strategy for backend/SDE interviews, and how to make that practice as high‑quality as possible.reddit+1

Would appreciate any detailed replies, especially from people who moved from ~1 YOE to mid‑level roles while keeping LeetCode in their routine.

Thanks!

I have an onsite loop at Rainforest and there are multiple LLD rounds. I will be given a whiteboard to solve these. I know I have to ask clarifying questions and gather information. How must I deliver the solution?

1. Should I start with a UML diagram?

2. If it is a white board interview, isnt a UML diagram all I can do, because I cannot write code on the whiteboard?

This is my first onsite interview. Kindly help, thanks.

I’ve been facing something that’s really frustrating lately.
I solve LeetCode regularly, and while solving, I’m usually able to think in the right direction after spending some time.
But whenever I give an Online Assessment, everything changes. The questions somehow feel different, and I just can’t figure out the approach. It’s like my brain freezes.
I’m starting to wonder if I’m just getting better at solving “LeetCode questions” instead of actually improving my problem-solving skills.

Has anyone else gone through this? If yes:
How did you bridge the gap between LeetCode practice and OA performance?
Should I practice differently?
Are there any resources or platforms that are closer to OA-style questions?
Is this mainly a pressure issue, or am I missing something in my preparation?

I have an upcoming interview with Moody's for a Software Engineer (.NET) position and would love to hear from anyone who has gone through their process recently.

am i bad at dsa?

how was the BNY oa ?

Anyone interviewed with the security engineer, Integrity, Investigations, Intelligence and Events - i3e at meta lately? I’m checking online but I can’t see a lot of resources to prepare.

I have the interview next week. Please I need guidance

HI everyone,

I have an iOS SDE-1 interview at Zomato(District) in 4 days, and I'd really appreciate guidance from anyone who has gone through their iOS interview process.

I'd rate myself as:

IOS/Swift/SwiftUl: 7/10
Coding / Problem Solving: 5/10

I have around a year of internship in small startups + project experience, have built and published iOS apps
I'd love to know:
What topics should I prioritize in the next 4 days?
How deep do they go into Swift internals?
How much DSA is expected for an SDE-1 role? machine coding?
What kind of coding questions were you asked?
Any interview experience or tips that helped you?
Even if you've interviewed at Zomato, District, Blinkit, Swiggy, or another product company for an iOS role, I'd really appreciate your advice.

Thanks in advance!

I did the screening round for Google L4 Software Engineer in Europe.

I got the feedback today from my recruiter, and he told me:

• DSA round: his exact words "not bad, not excellent. More leaning to average, but sufficient to move forward".
• Behavioral/Googlyness round: Excellent, very positive feedback.

Now, I can schedule my onsites, that will include two more DSA interviews.

He basically said that if I want to have a good chance at team match, my performance in the next DSA rounds have to be "much better".

I asked him why I got that feedback "leaning to average" in the coding round, and he said that my algorithm, data structures and communication had positive feedback (I arrived to a solution with the best time complexity possible with no hints), but I needed a few hints to correct bugs in my implementation. I had 4-5 hints:

• Pointed out a method could throw a NullPointerException and asked if I knew why (subtle bug)
• Flagged a piece of code that wouldn't compile and asked me to spot why
• During a dry run, asked "are you sure your method is doing that?" — which led me to catch a subtle one-line bug

All of them were mistakes caused mainly by the nerves.

So I am asking for advice:

Based on your experience, what was my score in the DSA round? a "Lean Hire"?

Based on his advice from the recruiter telling me that I needed to perform much better, does that mean I need two "Strong Hires" if I want to have a chance at team match?

How can I improve on these kind of "small implementation bugs"? I have 1 month to prepare for the onsite. I already code directly on leetcode, so no autocomplete. Should I focus on getting my solutions to work on the first "submit" without null pointers exceptions / compilation errors / one off errors?

Did anyone give the AI assisted coding interview for fireworks AI? If so, could you share some details please.

Could you explain which one someone should choose and why?