
Ask HN: How to learn enough Data Structures/Algorithms to pass the interview? - coralreef
I&#x27;m a self taught developer of 5 years, took a programming certificate at a local University which covered data structures and algorithms but not very practically.<p>I&#x27;d like to know enough to be able to pass an engineering interview (the equivalent of maybe a Junior level &#x2F; recent CS grad?). Assume I have 4-8 weeks of full time study available.<p>I know about Cracking the Coding Interview for practice and preparation, but how should I go about learning about the concepts?<p>Is it worth spending time to do online MOOCs? (Do you have any recommendations for such?) Or should I just try and jump straight into puzzles and homework?
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ignorantguy
I am kinda going through the same thing. I recommend Cracking the coding
interview very much. The thing I am doing is watching youtube videos on a
particular topic (say linked lists) to get the basics right. Write some
pseudocode and walk through it to make sure my logic is right and all. Then
jump on to the problems. Also, my advise would be not to jump to solutions
unless you are really stuck and cannot think of anything else. I am trying to
solve them using brute force technique if nothing else. Then try to improve on
that. My prep time for each topic depends on the complexity. For example I
have been studying trees since a week.

