Friday, April 12, 2024

Best Way To Prepare For Coding Interview

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How To Prepare For Coding Interview In 3 Months

Best FREE Way to get Good at Coding Interviews in 2022

DSA accounts for up to 80% of the questions you get in a coding interview. This step involves learning the basics of DSA and not competitive programming. Select any resource you are comfortable with and stick to it. You can choose either a book or a website. However, choose a single resource and stick to it.

How To Prepare For An Interview In 11 Steps

Related: How To Prepare for An Interview – The Best Pre-Interview Strategy

In this video, Jenn, an Indeed Career Coach, shares her recommended strategy for interview research and preparation.

Preparing for an interview might seem intimidating, but there are several steps you can take to prepare yourself for a successful interview. In this article, we create an interviewing prep checklist with 11 items.

How Do You Answer A Coding Question

StepsRead and understand the problem statement and the various constraints described in the problem. Take a quick tour to familiarize yourself with the code editor and know how to run and submit code. The Languages option lists the programming languages permitted by the test setter to answer the question.

Also Check: What Are The Top 20 Questions Asked In An Interview

Best Tips And Strategies To Prepare For A Coding Interview

Preparation for acing a coding interview starts months before the interview itself. You will have to get the right experience, build projects outside of school, find internships, do mini-projects to solidify your understanding of key concepts, practice explaining code, and a lot more things. We know that its hard to prepare for tech interviews, and we all need some guidance to start preparing in the right direction. To resolve this problem and clear your doubts in this article, we are going to talk about some points which are going to help you tackle the coding interview preparation process effectively. Below are some basic things that a person need to get a job in an IT company

1. Creating a Good Resume: Creating a good resume means your resume should be able to pass the initial screening of an applicant tracking system that is programmed to match keywords from the job description. Your resume should contain only information which is relevant to the job description and that too should be highlighted as the recruiter will go through your resume for few seconds. For example put the job title of the job description right under your name at the top so that ATS ranks your resume higher and the recruiter can immediately observe it.

Create a cover letter that tells about common problems in your industry, and how youve solved that problem in the past. Tell them why you want to work with them by expressing your excitement, and thank them for reading your letter.

Prepare Questions To Ask The Interviewer:

Coding / System Design Interview Preparation Books 2021

At the end of every interview, the interviewer will ask the candidate to ask any doubts regarding the interview process as a form of feedback. Many people usually ignore this aspect, but asking a good question can do you wonders for the interview. Try spending some time in researching good questions, as it can be a chance to impress your interviewer.

There is no clear distinction between good or bad questions. Also, asking such questions will give the interviewer how much you are keeping up with the present time and technology. Also, if you do not find anything suitable to ask, you could ask simple questions based on the technology used, infrastructure and other formalities of the company. Also, do not ask any feedback regarding your performance in the interview.

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Know The Company And The Interviewer

Do your research on the company. Find out what technologies and frameworks they use. What are their five year initiatives? What markets and domains do they work with? Research gives you not only good talking points and shows your interest in the company, but also helps you pinpoint where your skills align with the job requirements.

While researching the company, look up your interviewer on LinkedIn. Knowing a little bit about this individual can help you tailor your answers in a way the interviewer will best understand. For example, an HR director may not understand technical jargon whereas a lead software engineer would welcome it. Lastly, know the interviewers name and use it somewhere in the interview. Remember that youre speaking to another human being, and using someones name shows respect and expresses interest in possibly working with this person.

Learn A Consistent Method

The problems you can expect to face in your coding interview are highly ambiguous and can usually be solved many different ways.

To guide and structure your thinking, youll therefore want to use a consistent answer framework that you can apply to each question.

One of our favorite approaches is summarized in the following video from Amazon:

Here is a summary of the approach:

Five step approach to coding interview problems

  • Step 1: Clarify
  • Calculate time complexity
  • Discuss how you can optimize your solution
  • We strongly recommend you explore this framework, and our detailed version of it, by reading our article on how to answer coding interview questions. It’s got a written example answer that will show you how to apply the framework, minute-by-minute, in your interview.

    Using this framework will give you a structure which you can use to show your problem-solving skills and, of course, your coding knowledge, which well move on to now.

    Also Check: Basic Coding Questions For Interview

    Data Structures & Algorithms

    Honestly, these are foundational to everything that we do in coding interviews. Trying to do a coding interview without having your data structures and algorithms down would be like trying to play a game of basketball without knowing how to dribble. No amount of strategy is going to help you when you can’t move the ball down the court.

    Since you don’t have a lot of time here, you need to be very focused in your approach. You definitely don’t have time to study everything so you want to focus on the few things that are going to give you the most bang for their buck. I’d focus on the following: Trees, Graphs, Recursion, and Strings & Arrays.

    Obviously this isn’t everything, but you don’t have a lot of time here, so I’d spend the first 2 days of my 1 week on these and really getting them dialed in.

    Best Coding Interview Preparation Courses For 2022

    The ULTIMATE coding interview prep strategy

    Coding interviews are a dreaded part of the interview process that prevents many from landing their dream jobs in the tech industry. Many candidates did not do well and ended up being rejected.

    Though coding interviews are tough, they can be manageable with preparation, especially by taking an online coding interview preparation course.

    Thousands of users had taken it as part of their preparation phase before they were convincing enough to be offered an entry-level position at tech giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc.

    These coding interview courses will equip you with the knowledge, tips, and techniques you need to ace the interview. They will help turn your nerves into confidence and successfully convince your future employers that you are the right person for the position.

    However, a quick google search will tell you that numerous options are available for programming interview preparation. You might be overwhelmed by them and could not choose the right one.

    No worries! I have gone through the hassle and found the top 9 best coding interview preparation courses available over the web. You can read this post and effortlessly find one that suits your needs.

    Also Check: What Makes A Successful Interview

    Is Leetcode The Best Way To Prepare For Interviews

    The coding interview process is notoriously difficult, and the preparation process isnt any easier. Developers often spend months preparing for their coding interviews. At most big tech companies, coding problems are the biggest part of the interview process.

    LeetCode is a popular tool that developers use to prepare for their technical interviews. Today, were going to take a deeper look at LeetCode along with its advantages and disadvantages. Well also discuss alternative ways to prepare for your coding interviews.

    Well cover:

    Be confident in any coding interview

    Educatives coding interview prep course is available in four programming languages and explores the most commonly asked interview questions at top tech companies.

    How An Interview Fits Into The Coding Bootcamp Admissions Process

    Bootcamps use the applicant interview to determine which candidates they want to attend their program. An interview may be the last step in the application process, or it may come first before a coding or critical thinking assessment. Either way, prospective students need to leave a good impression and demonstrate that they will be a good fit for the program.

    During the interview, candidates must convey their goals for the program and explain their plans for after graduation. Bootcamps seek driven, hard-working students with clear career goals. Applicants must also indicate a passion for coding and an eagerness to learn, and show that they will rise to any challenges presented in the program.

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    Practical Tips For Coding Questions

    This section dives deep into practical tips for specific topics of algorithms and data structures, which appear frequently in coding questions. Many algorithm questions involve techniques that can be applied to questions of a similar nature.

    The more techniques you have in your arsenal, the greater your chances of passing the interview. For each topic, there is also a list of recommended questions, which is valuable for mastering the core concepts. Some of the questions are only available with a paid subscription to LeetCode, which in my opinion is absolutely worth the money if it lands you a job.

    Practice Is The Only Way Youll Get Better

    Algobash

    You have to create and stick to your practice schedule. Diligently. Its surprisingly difficult to stick to simple habits, but thats often the difference between success and failure. For example., 2-4 hours a day to solve one or two problems is a great habit â necessary and often sufficient. But its imperative that you actually do so several days a week for a number of weeks, rain or shine, in order to get cumulative benefits.

    Recommended Reading: What Should You Ask During An Interview

    Explain Concepts Out Loud

    Coding concepts are challenging to explain, especially when speaking to someone unfamiliar with the field. When a hiring manager wants to learn about your thought process, they might ask you to explain concepts. Before your interview, explain complex coding topics out loud to a friend. This type of practice makes it easier to recognize how well you understand a topic and what areas you should review. Explaining concepts ahead of time also helps improve your confidence, as you are identifying gaps in your knowledge and correcting them.

    Test Engineering Interview Preparation Course

    The coding interview preparation course for test engineering is exhaustive and covers all the essential concepts from an interview perspective. At the end of the test engineering course, youâll be able to solve challenging coding interview questions and have a deep understanding of test engineering concepts.

    Course duration: 15 weeks

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    Also Check: How Many Rounds Of Interviews Is Normal

    The Best Live Coding Platforms

    Now you know how to conduct a live coding interview. But what are the best live coding platforms? Thats what well look at now.

    The features youll want to keep track of include which languages/frameworks a coding platform supports, whether or not candidates can use their own environment, whether the platform also supports pair programming, and customer support.

    Tip #: Stay Optimistic But Prepare For Challenges

    Best FREE site for coding interviews

    If youre the luckiest developer on the planet, you might be able to sail through your first interview and land a job right away but for most people, the process takes a bit longer.

    According to Hireds research, candidates with four to six years of experience field an average of 7.7 interview requests before landing a job. For some, it can take even longer a cursory internet search reveals countless stories of beleaguered coders who interviewed at 30 or even 40 companies before eventually getting a job.

    Getting turned down for a job can feel demoralizing. However, you should try to stay as positive as possible because every interview offers a learning experience.

    As Quora software engineer Udayan Banerji once shared in an article for Forbes, There is no shortage of amazing companies So dont lose hope. No matter who rejects you, walk in to the next one better prepared. If it takes 10, 20 or 40 rejections, so be it. Every interview you lose will teach you something. Take notes after each, improve on those. Rejections are not personal, not in the tech world anyway. And eventually when you get the job you want, these 12 years of rejections wont matter. You wont even remember it.

    Coding Interview Tips:

    Additional Resources:

    Recommended Reading: How To Schedule Interviews With Candidates

    Tip #: Dont Forget To Make Small Talk

    Yes, the focus of a coding interview is on a candidates programming savvy but the conversation will drive quite a bit of an interviewers impression.

    Interviewers are as human as the rest of us. They laugh, they share experiences, and they think highly of the people they like. When youre in the interview room, you should make an effort to push aside your nerves and make a connection with the person on the other side of the table.

    Chris Lee might have put the matter best in an article for Learn to Code With Me. An interview is not just about answering questions correctly, but also about a conversation. Ask good questions. Laugh and make jokes at appropriate junctures. At the end of the interview, even if you missed a few questions, the overall feeling the interviewer has about you should be positive. If you know that you are not a great conversationalist, make sure to focus on improving this.

    Interpersonal interaction matters so dont let small talk fall to the wayside!

    Coding Interview Tips:

    • Come up with a few good questions to ask your interviewer about their experience with the company.
    • Make a few jokes .
    • Make small talk.

    How Is This Repository Different

    There are many awesome books like “Cracking the Coding Interview” and interview-related repositories out there on GitHub, what makes this repository different? The difference is that many existing interview repositories contain mainly links to external resources whereas this repository contains top-quality curated content directly for your consumption.

    Also, existing resources focus mainly on algorithm questions and lack coverage for more domain-specific and non-technical questions. This handbook aims to cover content beyond the typical algorithmic coding questions.

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    Give A Good First Impression

    You never get a second chance at a first impression. Remember to exude confidence and present yourself with high levels of energy and enthusiasm. A perfect handshake and consistent eye contact give a good impression of you and will set you up for a successful interview. In the modern software development world, software engineers will be working closely with stakeholders, other developers, and business teams. Interviewers will place just as much importance on communication skills as they will on your technical capabilities.

    Tip #: Go Back To The Basics

    Programming Interview Questions + Help Getting Job Offers

    No one wants to go back to CompSci 101 after entering the job pool. But what if a trip to your past could potentially help you land your dream job?

    Above all else, interviewers want to know that you have a solid grasp of the fundamentals, regardless of whether you acquired your knowledge through a degree program, a coding bootcamp, or some other way. Sure, its a nice bonus if an applicant can write in a flashy new language but generally, employers just want to know that the people they hire can problem-solve and write good code. Rather than trying to cram in a few impressive new skills on the day before your interview, set aside some time to brush up on your foundation and work through practice problems.

    A few essential skills to focus on include:

    • Data structures

    Read Also: How To Interview For A Teaching Position

    Mastering Web Developer Interview Questions

    If you are looking for a new job or want to improve your current coding skills, then this course is the ideal choice for you. In this course, you will get a clear understanding of the kinds of front-end and full-stack developer code that is often valued by large enterprises. The course is created by Ray Villalobos, who is a professional full-stack developer. He will help you learn and equip the essential coding skills that every developer should have in their toolkit. The best part is you can access the course free for 30 days with the freedom to study from your comfort zone. And if you dont like the class, you can quit it immediately without paying anything.

    Highlights

    Go through the introduction of various coding exercises and technical concepts that are commonly asked in an interview

    Includes interviews with industry professionals and hiring managers that can help you demystify the interview process

    Learn how to use the Fetch API, arrow functions in ESS6, constructor to create instances, and how to render JSON to a DOM element

    Cover some of the essential coding skills like Front-end development, interviewing that are often asked in an interview

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