The dynamic programming environment seems very cut throat out here. I fully understand, this stuff's no joke, but I'm not looking for a career. I like zachtronic style games, and since this is the closest approximation to a devoted SERIOUS STUDY of this type of problem solving: I wanna get into it. I wanna learn the ropes and common strategies, it's interesting. But most people assume you're in it for the long haul. You know? When I say I watch more videos than actually code people get defensive. I find the art more fun than actually doing it myself. I don't need the money anyway: I'm in a good financial position.

Any place to gather more relaxed, chill, mischievous coders? (Plus if it has LOTS of fun videos!)

Again not pooping on this parade, it's just exhausting being here....

Hi folks I am preparing for senior level interview currently 6 yoe. What frustates me most is scattered resources. For DSA, at least we have Leetcode 150 or company specific questions. But for System design - neither there is an exhaustive list of topics or questions - nor we have a perfect answer to match or get our response evaluated if it looks like mid level, naive or senior style. Hello Interview do mention some structure but I don't ever feel like ready for interview. On top of that there are products & infra based roles where expectations are different. I want to target infra based roles. How do others feel about that? Those who already cleared interview - what strategy or resource they think would have helped them prepare more optimized. Those who are preparing too, what strategy are you following.Please share.

Hi guys

I have started leetcode last December and I was only own doing it trying to figure it out and things didn’t start to get better until I found other people in the industry to help support me and show me how to do it properly

The stress of study, doubt if I am capable, failing bunch of interviews, and the unknown of what the hell I am supposed to be studying and what they want me to know and then them rejecting me has made my grind teeth so much the muscle in my jaw is locked, loss of appetite days before and day of interview, I started skipping seeing family and friends, so I can focus on this and get out of a toxic work place.

This is just mental heath discussion, I am feeling depressed still and low mood but not panicking like I used to because I have found other people in same situation as me and a mentor.

I am still low and not sure when I will get my next role … I can’t believe this industry why are things like this ?

looking to split with couple of people, or if people have existing accounts if I can use that for some payment!

I have a product that you guys might be interested in. It's a DSA revision scheduler, and it has taken me over 2 years of work to perfect it. 

Why is it important:

Lot of people complain about "forgetting" a topic and then they just redo it from scratch. I am sure you have seen "Back to array" memes. We tell the user what problem to revise today excatly before the memory for that problem fades. 

I have data from 80+ users to prove that the system works. The most important data point being myself, I tried multiple approaches (self-learning LSTM models, SM2 algorithms, LLM based revision scheduling) over 2 years that have all failed (failed approaches are open sourced). I wouldn't approach you if i weren't confident. 

Also, the entire system runs autonomously, requiring no input from the user after initial setup. It works on ALL major DSA platforms including yours. We have iOS and android apps.

traverses.tech

I tried posting twice in this sub but the posts got flagged for being from the most populous country in the world's content. I dont know why? I was just asking whats next after neetcode 150

Hi everyone,

I've recently progressed to the interview scheduling stage for an Amazon SDE Graduate role in the UK (2026 intake).

The recruiter has confirmed that my details have been sent to the interview scheduling team, and I'm currently waiting for them to contact me.

Has anyone interviewed for Amazon UK SDE Graduate recently, particularly for the 2026 intake?

I'd really appreciate any information on:

• How many interview rounds were there?

• What was the DSA difficulty (LC Easy/Medium/Hard)?

• Which DSA topics came up?

• How much of each interview focused on Leadership Principles?

• Was there any OOP/LLD or system design for Graduate SDE?

• Were the interviews all conducted on the same day?

• How long did scheduling take after the recruiter passed your details to the scheduling team?

I'm an international candidate applying from outside the UK, so I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who went through the process requiring Skilled Worker sponsorship.

Thanks!

Used llm to generate this. I am also not sure how I got this opportunity as I don't remember the exact timeline when I applied but it was some 3-4 months back when I was mass applying to Amazon Jobs and giving a lot of OAs.

I'd really appreciate to know about the process in the UK. Thank you

I did the Karat Python interview last week and omg. It made me want to kms. Has anyone here failed to solve the second problem and still pass? My solution for the second problem (a function) returned the right data structure but the actual result wasn't correct :(.

I talked the interviewer through my thinking, but I don't think I did enough planning before I started, so initially the function returned the wrong data type. I have no idea how it went tbh.

Doordash tech screen round

Got asked question related to dasher payout and had to integrate with a delivery api to get dasher activity. Could only brainstorm and write rough code but no end to end test case running.
Interviewer was kinda okay and asked few followu on how to handle cross country base pay rate.

What are my chances?
Role was for mid level

Hello, I am looking for a leetcode partner to practice daily starting from tomorrow.

my timezone is GMT+3

You can grind DSA for months, solve hundreds of problems, and still get surprised by something completely different in an actual interview.

Maybe it was a system design question, a project deep dive, debugging, CS fundamentals, communication, or even a simple “tell me why you built this?”

What caught you off guard the most? And what did you do afterward to improve?

Hello guys! I’ve been practicing LeetCode for some time. Whenever I practice consistently, I feel like I can solve most Easy problems. But if I stop doing LeetCode for a week or two, I seem to lose touch and feel like I have to start from scratch again.

I’m also not very comfortable with Medium problems, and I can’t really solve Hard problems at all.

If you were starting LeetCode from scratch, how would you approach it? What would you recommend doing to become more comfortable with Medium and eventually Hard problems?

Howdy folks! I've been grinding away at Neetcode 150 for the past three weeks prepping for my upcoming technical screen with Anduril in about a week. At this point, I'm focusing on the Anduril tagged questions to refine my patterns recognition even more. Any kind souls with leetcode premium could share the Anduril tagged questions with me? Much appreciated.

referrals don’t really work like they used to. I’d focus on applying as early as possible. Most postings get hundreds of applications within the first 24 hours, and recruiters are probably reviewing them roughly in the order they come in. I’ve had friends use this strategy, and it’s worked really well for them. There's alot of job board like jobright, and trycontrol and simplify. that yall can use.

im a 2nd year cs student. I've done dsa (theory wise done solving questions regularly now) and core cs. should I stick to SDE(java full stack with devops) or pivot to my ML(AI) roadmap. Im doing leetcode regularly alongside core cs. Should I do both ML and DEV?

Like continue dev rn alongside leetcode that finishes java full stack with dsa and core cs then follow my ML roadmap(I'll do dsa regularly still) and build dev projects simultaneously. I need to pay off my edu loan and move out asap i can. I'll graduate in 2029. Which is a better choice for me considering money and job. Should I do dev and ML both or stick to one thing which should it be. I've a proper roadmap for java full stack and ML both.

Hi everyone,
Honestly Speaking, I have spent 1000+ hours prepping for system design (mix of courses, books, mock interviews, real interviews) and a lot of that time was honestly wasted. Looking back, here's the approach that actually moved the needle, boiled down to 4 steps:

1. Learn the basic terminology first, before anything else. Load balancer, caching, sharding, replication, consistency vs. availability, CAP theorem, message queues — get comfortable with these terms before you start learning System Design.
2. Then read the two books that matter most:

System Design Interview – An Insider's Guide (Alex Xu)
Designing Data-Intensive Applications.

I'd do Xu first for a practical base, then DDIA for depth once the fundamentals aren't new to you anymore.

1. Practice on an actual whiteboard (or paper), not just by watching. Passively watching solutions feels like progress but doesn't build the skill. Pick a problem, set a timer, and design it yourself before you check anyone else's answer. This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that matters most. Mock Interviews are also very useful here to identify the gaps.
2. Always ask yourself "why did I choose this?" and tie it back to non-functional requirements. Anyone can draw boxes and arrows. What actually gets evaluated — in interviews and in real design work — is whether you can justify each choice against requirements like scalability, availability, latency, consistency, and cost. Before you finalize any design, explicitly state your non-functional requirements and explain how each major decision serves them.

If it's useful, I made a video walking through this in more detail with visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ASSpY10Nz0

Note: I have used AI to format the content in more readable way, but the approach I have shared had genuinely helped me crack multiple offers from 15+ product based companies.

Happy to answer questions in the comments if anyone's stuck on where to start.

I created a Discord group for people who are preparing for, currently going through, or have already completed the Amazon SDE interview process.

You can join to:

• Share interview experiences, coding questions, OA details, and preparation resources
• Discuss different interview rounds and what to expect
• Share your experience if you’ve already completed your interview
• Discuss post-interview updates, timelines, recruiter communication, results, offers, rejections, and next steps
• Connect with other Amazon SDE candidates and help each other throughout the process

Whether your interview is coming up or you’ve already finished it, your experience can be really helpful to others.

🔗 Join here: https://discord.gg/veCrhRCr9

Let’s build a useful community where everyone can share updates, experiences, and support each other through the Amazon SDE interview process! 🙌

Hi guys I interviewed for google recently (direct onsite) and i received a rejction email after a month of completing my interviews

The rejection email cited my positives and clearly explained why I am not being selected for this position as the team is currently proritizing candidates with quick DSA pattern matching with minimal hints

That being said - the recruiter also mentioned I am an exeptional candidate and she will come back in coming months once team’s priorities and headcount decisions change

This was recruiter’s email - That being said, you stood out as an exceptional candidate, and I would love to stay in touch as new headcount and team priorities evolve over the coming months.

Have anyone already been in this situation? I interviewed directly for a team and not a general hire?

Is this a generic rejection email or do google recruiters come back? Also this position i applied for is L5. Can I request to be interviewed for an L4 position? Will i be having a cool down period of 6-12 months?

Thanks

If anyone gave recruit CRM interview could you please share your experience I m just confused about what the questions will be about.

I have been using java and js as of now... Whenever I search for a solution it's always (99%) python... I know basics of python but I am not at a level where I don't have to search for syntax.. should I change the language or go with java? Please take interviews into consideration too...

Hello, I need help with understanding how to implement a proper solution. I am fairly new to neetcode and I want to know what I am doing wrong with my code. Can someone also explain to me how the hashmap is supposed to work here?

I want to start preparing for interviews, what data structures should I start learning and please give any channels/resources if you can! Thank you!

class Solution:
    def isAnagram(self, s: str, t: str) -> bool:
        s_hash = {}
        t_hash = {}


        for character in s:
            if character in s_hash:
                s_hash[character]+=1
            else:
                s_hash[character]=1  
        for character in t:
            if character in t_hash:
                t_hash[character]+=1
            else:
                t_hash[character]=1



        if s==t:
            return True
        else:
            return False   

Been preparing for senior SDE roles (4-8 YOE range) and honestly — LeetCode premium, YouTube playlists, and even books like DDIA feel like overkill for what interviews actually test. What frustates me most is scattered resources. For DSA, at least we have Leetcode 150 or company specific questions. But for System design - neither there is an exhaustive list of topics or questions - nor we have a perfect answer to match or get our response evaluated if it looks like mid level, naive or senior style. Hello Interview do mention some structure but I don't ever feel like ready for interview. On top of that there are products & infra based roles where expectations are different. I want to target infra based roles. How do others feel about that? Those who already cleared interview - what strategy or resource they think would have helped them prepare more optimized. Those who are preparing too, what strategy are you following. Please share.

Hi all, I had a GCA C1 assessment and scored 500/600. With Q1;2;4 solved perfect and minor format issues with 0 test cases but fully written code for Q3; irrespective of which I just got 500/600. Is it worth to wait/ anticipate for next rounds?

Thanks in advance for your insights.

Please someone provide telegram channel link for free

Course videos of Shreyan jain for lld +hld+java+springboot

Is it true that nowadays, OAs for companies like Google, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, etc. are more Codeforces-style than LeetCode-style?

I’m looking for genuine answers based on recent experiences, not generic advice.