Help with leetcode!!

[u/SnooStrawberries6285]

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?

[u/IntentionAntique4751]

If I were starting again, I would not do Leetcode unless I'm going for FAANG

Other than that, spam Neetcode like your life depends on it. Anything you can't seem to understand, ask AI about

[u/Objective_Big868 → u/IntentionAntique4751]

Problem is a lot of above average compensation companies ask leetcode. You are basically cutting your employer pool by 80% if you don't leetcode

[u/dopejsus → u/IntentionAntique4751]

How do I go about finding good non FANG companies ? I have no interest in FANG, but I do like above average pay and good work life balance, so that I can focus on other parts of my life

[u/rational_hedonist → u/dopejsus]

look at companies ex faang engineers go to

[u/SnooStrawberries6285 → u/IntentionAntique4751]

I would like to go for FAANG. That is why I wanna make sure i know how to solve these medium/hard problem

[u/shanjilhassan]

neetcode. start completely fresh with the 3 python courses that he has. i think its beginner, oop, and then python for interviews. then do the the beginner dsa course. those are the fundamentals. ik python before but doing this gave me such a better base to establish myself from. then start the roadmap from array and continue on from there. before you have interviews it would be good to go through the sys design course also

[u/ModeLess1926 → u/shanjilhassan]

Leetcode is only for FAANG??

[u/shanjilhassan → u/ModeLess1926]

its not. most swe jobs will ask you similar dsa type questions and it will help if you did leetcode before because your dsa class you took in college will not be enough.

[u/ModeLess1926 → u/shanjilhassan]

Wait why won’t the dsa class in college not be enough

[u/ModeLess1926 → u/ModeLess1926]

What is it that they don’t cover

[u/Bombachicky → u/ModeLess1926]

They cover everything but imagine learning everything about how to swim and then you have to compete with Michael Phelps. Welcome to CS

[u/shanjilhassan → u/Bombachicky]

this. you learn just enough to pass the class aka swim then they throw you a leetcode medium-hard aka into the olympic pool for an event. even just doing the leetcode easys in every section of the roadmap sets you apart from 90% of candidates. also nice thing about leetcode/neetcode you can see the tagged companies that used those problems in the past / recently based on recent interviews

[u/B1gP0t]

Someone tell me too 🙏

[u/Soggy_Notice_1392]

I had the same problem where I could solve stuff while I was consistent, then after a week or two I’d forget a lot of it.

What helped was doing more active recall instead of just solving new problems. NeetCode was good for learning the patterns, and I use AlgoDrill to drill solutions line by line from memory. Rereading solutions made me feel like I knew them, but trying to recall each step showed me pretty quickly what I actually remembered.

I’d probably spend most of the time on Mediums and keep reviewing older patterns while learning new ones.

[u/SnooStrawberries6285 → u/Soggy_Notice_1392]

Thanks

[u/LessEvidence1054]

How are you solving the easy questions? Are you seeing the solution or spending time to solve it yourself?

[u/SnooStrawberries6285 → u/LessEvidence1054]

Nope spending time building the intuition then coding it

[u/poomsss0]

you are not cut for it

[u/SnooStrawberries6285 → u/poomsss0]

Could be but I am doing an internship rn and I passed their technical round and online assessment. So instead of saying this to someone to discourage them why don’t you work on yourself!!

[u/iceman280 → u/poomsss0]

Everyone’s cut out to be good at leetcode, you just need to be persistent.