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Ace the coding interview,

every time

For Interview preparation check the links below:

Algorithm and Data Structures 80+ chapters: https://www.prodevelopertutorial.com/ajs-guide-to-

data-structures-and-algorithms-the-complete-guide-from-beginner-to-expert/

Coding questions 200+ solved questions: https://www.prodevelopertutorial.com/ajs-guide-to-

interview-coding-questions/

C++ Tutorial 88+ chapters: https://www.prodevelopertutorial.com/ajs-guide-to-c-programming-

for-beginners/

Linux System Programming: https://www.prodevelopertutorial.com/ajs-guide-to-linux-system-

programming/

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Disclaimer and proviso: “The postings on this site are my

own and don’t represent Amazon’s position in any way
whatsoever”.

Have you ever failed a code-intensive technical interview? I

have, and can 100% relate. It was one of the most embarrassing
moments of my professional career. It happened once, because
I got complacent, didn’t put in the prep time, and took the fact
that my professional experience and ability to code would carry
me through.

What a colossal mistake that was. I remember struggling

in front of the white board for two hours and walking out of the
interview dejected, knowing I missed out on a great opportunity
due to a false sense of security and arrogance, and lack of
preparation. I swore I would never let it happen again, and it
hasn’t.

Thus, what’s contained here is my own blueprint, from having

participated in technical interviews with many software
companies of note, and from conducting literally hundreds of
technical interviews at companies I work(ed) for. This
methodology has also been refined with the help of other
experienced Engineers and seasoned technical interviewers.
Follow this, and you will absolutely crush most code-intensive

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tech loops (yes, this means Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google,

Microsoft ☺) as well as most other software companies out
there.

In writing this, some will ask if I’m giving away the equivalent of
state secrets. The answer is a resounding “No”. Nowadays, most
technology companies provide very comprehensive instructions
via email or other means prior to the interview containing a lot
of this material — some getting to very granular levels of detail.
For example, here is a snippet from an email sent out by a very
prominent software company to their Engineering candidates:

Technical Preparation

Portions of the interviews will be extremely technical revolving

around theory, algorithms, data structures, design patterns,
languages, etc. I can’t stress enough the value of studying
for the interview as it can be very much like a CS exam, and
its randomness around topics can catch folks by surprise.

The email then goes on to list blog posts, books, videos, and
other study materials, and includes 4 attachments with explicit
instructions on what to study for.

Why would any company do this, you ask? Because the fail/pass
ratio for technical interviews is extraordinarily high (on
average, over 90% fail), and companies want well-prepared
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candidates. Interviewing 100 people and hiring 10 is not an

efficient use of anyone’s time. Hiring takes a lot of time, and
every company wants to do better.

OK. So with all of this material available on the Web and

elsewhere, why are so many folks out there still bombing
technical interviews? Simple. From my experience, and in
speaking to countless colleagues in technology that are highly
experienced interviewers, one thing is patently clear: Engineers
of all types and educational backgrounds either passed or failed
the tech screens and coding loops due to a simple root
cause: preparation or lack thereof. So let’s address and fix
that, right now.

Assumptions
First and foremost, you already know how to code. You may or
may not have a CS background — this is OK, but you’re already
a good coder, you just need a CS refresher, and a game plan for
interview day.

This will cover the general coding interview blue-print.

Candidates are, of course, expected to study and be prepared for
technology specific questions around areas such as UX/UI
development, embedded systems, mobile devices, etc.

How long do I need to prepare?

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Your mileage may vary, but in general, at least 4–6 weeks, for
2–3 hours a day, and this assumes you are an experienced
Engineer with a strong background in Computer Science. Move
the time slider out according to your experience level.

The Basics
First, the good news. Virtually all software companies, especially
the large ones, use the same interview process (in many cases to
a great degree of similarity). We won’t cover the process here,
but these 3 blog posts cover what you should expect to
encounter in 90% or more of your technical interviews at most
companies:

1. “Get that job at Google” — Steve Yegge. The original article,

and by far the best reference on the topic

2. “Get that job at Facebook” — Carlos Bueno

3. “Get that job at Microsoft” — Nick Ciubotariu (shameless

plug)

If you only read one article, read the first one. Then read it
again. It’s must know for anyone who will go through a code-
intensive technical interview, now or in the future.

Now, the irritating news. The articles are great, but also broad.
That’s a ton of material to cover. And they just tell you to study

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everything. And it gets worse. In Computer Science, there are an

infinite amount of questions that can be asked. So we need
specifics.

What to Study
First, the absolute must-haves, in order:

1. Trees (especially Binary Search Trees)

2. Trees (especially Binary Search Trees) — again

3. Big O Notation

4. Hash Tables

5. Object Oriented Design/Systems Design

6. Algorithms: Breadth First Search/Depth First Search, Binary

Search, Merge Sort and Quick Sort

Let’s dispose of Captain Obvious (Trees, and specifically, BST’s).

In every interview I’ve been through, with any team, product
group or company, I’ve gotten a Binary Tree or BST
question. Every single one. I have also been through
interviews where every single one of the interviewers asked a
BST question.

Speculating on reasons for this is neither here nor there.

Personally, I posit that it’s due to the versatility of Binary Search
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Trees — Insertion, Deletion and Search all take O(log n) time on

average, and O(n) time worst case. They are very elegant data
structures with lots of practical applications in Software
Engineering, which is why, in any technical interview, you’re
going to see a BST-related question.

The rest of the study topics are self explanatory. Big O notation
is absolutely necessary — you will be asked to determine
time/space complexity in almost all your interview questions,
and how to optimize your code for better time/space
complexity. You are almost guaranteed to be given time/space
complexity guidelines for designing your code. You are
extremely likely to see a question where the solution will involve
the use of hash tables. You are guaranteed to see at least one OO
Design question. And you are guaranteed at least one
algorithmically driven question.

So what’s left? Again, in order of priority:

1. Arrays

2. Recursion

3. Linked Lists

4. Stacks/Queues

5. Bit Manipulation

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You will want to know recursion (remember the termination

clause!!) and linked lists. Same for Stacks and Queues.
Questions involving bit manipulation are rare but are
encountered from time to time.

Mock interview guidelines

Use a white board, or better yet, pencil and paper.
Follow this rule, and you’ll be successful. Violate it at
your own peril.

In an interview setting, you will not be given the advantage of

using an IDE and compiler, so prepare in the most realistic way
possible. Thus, write down the interview question in the same
way that an interviewer would be providing it to you. Break it
down into small parts and an approach to solve the problem.
Write some pseudo-code, then write real code. Do all of this on
paper, “walking through the code” as you write it. See if you can
find bugs in the code (they will be there). Test your code. Pay
attention to nullchecks and corner cases. Take your time
and really understand the problem, before you move on to
the next one.

Using this approach ensures you will learn and internalize the
subject matter, rather than commit certain coding questions
and solutions to rote memory. Run a coding question through
an IDE only when you feel like you have given it your best shot

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and have exhausted the solution on paper. Writing the question

on paper has an added advantage — you can review it later.

Eat the elephant one bite at a time (how to study)

The topic of computer science is, by its very own nature, very
dense, and the subject matter can be hard to digest. Pick a
particular area, increasing the difficulty as you go, and try to
solve 2–3 coding questions per day. Anymore than this, and you
may start to lose your drive to study, begin skipping days, etc.,
and a good study plan will immediately unravel.

Dedicate one day to reviewing that week’s questions and study

topics. This is extremely important for material retention. Take
one day off per week to give your brain a break. This is
important, everyone needs to rest and reset.

Let’s say you devote 6 weeks to interview preparation. At 6 days

per week, with 1 day dedicated to review (leaving 5 days a week
for coding questions), you’re going to solve 60 questions
(assuming 2 questions/day), or 90 questions (assuming 3
questions/day). That’s pretty serious progress, and 6 weeks will
go by in a blur! Again, dial the time up or down as needed.

Don’t cram, unless absolutely necessary! Re-read the section on

properly preparing if needed☺. A crash course will yield
marginal results at best, failure at worst.

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The week before the interview

If you followed the blueprint above, you’re not cramming this
week. You may be reviewing study material, but mostly you’re
doing additional research on the company you’re interviewing
with, the team, culture fit, and position in general. You already
put in the study sweat equity. Use this week to spend the time
polishing other areas of the interview, such as soft skills, specific
technology topics, etc.

The day/night before the interview

Rule #1: get a good night’s sleep!! Nothing is more
important than being at your best for what promises to be a very
exhaustive day of programming acrobatics. You’ve done your
homework and you’re ready — have confidence in yourself
and the hard work and prep time you’ve put in to get
here!

Do not violate this rule unless a work/family emergency dictates

otherwise. And if this rule is broken for subsequently-
mentioned reasons, it is probably wise to postpone the
interview. This happens more frequently than you think, and
folks will understand.

No, no and no ☺
Do not interview while you’re sick!! It’s not only not good
for your own personal sake of well being, no one wants you
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there to get them sick! I admit to having done this once — I was
on the verge of pneumonia, and my interviews had to be halted
and I had to be helped out of the building as I was about to pass
out from dehydration. Thankfully, I interviewed with a very
understanding and courteous company who offered me another
chance to come on campus and interview once I was healthy
again.

The day of the interview

Be on time and bring a bottle of water (I prefer Gatorade for
energy). Most companies will offer you refreshments, but have
something handy just in case.

Relax and listen closely. When you engage your interviewer

after a coding question has been given to you, do not start
coding right away! Ask clarifying questions — this is absolutely
expected. For instance, you may be asked a question such as
“Delete the nth to last item from a list”. Would you start coding
this immediately? I posit that you really couldn’t — here are
clarifying questions that I would ask prior to formulating an
attack vector or designing an algorithm to solve the problem.

• What type of list are we discussing? “A linked list”

• Is this a singly-linked list or doubly-linked list? “Singly-

linked list”

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• Is space complexity important? “No, but time complexity is”

• In that case, is a recursive solution acceptable? “Yes, but it

would be nice to see an iterative solution as well if we have
time”

• Do you want me to code the helper Node class? “No, you can
assume you have int data and Node next”

We now have a completely different question than we started

with. “Delete the nth to last node from a singly-linked list”.
Since the interviewer isn’t concerned with space complexity, we
can use an elegant and simple recursive solution to start with
(recursive calls normally incur a penalty from a space
complexity perspective, since recursive calls are stored in the
execution stack, with the exception of tail recursion). We know
that the interviewer doesn’t care about the Node class, and
wants an iterative solution as definite bonus points.

Always solve the problem algorithmically first. Talk

through your approach to the problem with the interviewer.
Draw out a small sample set of data to serve as a guide. Write a
bit of pseudocode, in step fashion, explaining each step. Then,
begin to write real code. Talk through the code — it helps you
think on your feet and formulate your thoughts as you go. Test
your code against the data set you created (your interviewer will
want you to “run” the code) anyway, so take the initiative and do
so. Ask the interviewer if they would like for you to write test
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cases if there is time, and be prepared to do it if asked to; this

will earn you major bonus points as most candidates do not do
this.

What to do if you’re stuck

Always solve the problem algorithmically first. If your
algorithm is solid, coding it will be easy. If you get stuck
on coding, code your skeleton functions and get the
nullcheck/termination clauses and other test cases out of the
way to start getting code flowing in the right direction (or at
least getting some code on the whiteboard).

Ask for help if you’ve exhausted your train of thought. You may
get docked a few points, you may not. A critical factor in
assessing Engineers is how they collaborate with others, and it
sure beats staring at a white board in silence. The interviewer
won’t solve the problem for you, but they will provide hints if
needed, this is done very frequently. Build on the hints, and
break down your problem into small pieces. Try various
solutions, and don’t be afraid of the brute force approach — you
can optimize it later if needed.

Additional pointers
Use the whiteboard judiciously. Start at the top left and work
your way down, then right. Write as legibly as possible. Clearly
separate pseudo-code from real code. Use generally-accepted
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coding conventions (in Java, for instance, method names have

mixed case letters, beginning with a lower case letter and
starting each subsequent word with an upper case letter). Make
sure your parentheses and brackets are balanced, and you’re not
missing a sea of semicolons in your functions. Stay away from
one letter variable names if possible; of course, this excludes
loop constructs (int i, j) and try/catch blocks (exception e). Loop
counters always start with i for index.

In other words, ensure you’re writing clean, compilable code —

this is definitely expected of you, and you will get demerits for
sloppy code.

Be sure to take at least one break. I’ve been through an

interview with 7 interviewers on the panel where a bio break
wasn’t offered. Ask for one if needed. Stay hydrated and stay
positive.

And most important, relax and show confidence

throughout the interview. Treat this as a situation where
you are meeting new people and making some new friends, with
some fun challenges thrown in the mix, not a do-or-die
pressure-cooker.

To add: If you have one bad interview round, shake it off

immediately. Put it in the back of your mind and absolutely kill
the others. It is very, very rare that candidates go through the
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entire interview process having aced every single session. Your

hire decision will depend on the data points from everyone you
interview with, which is why you’ll have multiple coding
sessions. One sub-par session won’t necessarily sink you (and
indeed, most of the time it does not, if the others are positive).

Study Guides
(for clarity, I have no affiliation with anyone or anything I will
recommend in this article, and will receive zero
compensation for the recommendations I make). These are,
in my opinion, just great resources to help you along the way.

Books:

1. Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions

and Solutions — to date, there is not a better book out there
for technical interview preparation

Interactive Learning:

1. My Code School — One of the best resources I have found

that comprehensively covers data structures, algorithms and
CS concepts in general. Best of all, it’s free!

2. Udemy — Data Structures and Algorithms. — For those

unfamiliar, or those that need a good refresher. There is a
cost for this course ($49)
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Online Training:

1. Leetcode — With over 150 questions and counting, this

should be your absolute first destination for practicing
programming questions and code katas.

Useful Sites:

1. GeeksforGeeks — everything but the kitchen sink is here ☺,

including a very nice “interview corner” section, and
countless programming questions

2. careercup — Developed by the author of “Cracking the

Coding Interview”, this site remains an invaluable resource
to everyone looking to improve their technical interview
skills

Improve and maintain, over time

Once the rust is gone, and you’re fully prepped, it is dead easy to
keep your CS and interview skills sharp: solve one coding
question per day. I’ve been doing this for the past 3 years or
so, and I’ve realized the following benefits:

1. I’m never out of practice

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2. It helps flex mental muscles and improve critical thinking,

the same way solving crossword puzzles, brain teasers or
playing a game of chess might.

The relative time investment is small — no more than 30–35

minutes per day, on average, and the benefit is immeasurable.
Were I to find myself in an immediate technical interview need
situation, for whatever reason, I am always well prepared.

If this article helps just one person nail their interview and get
a hire decision, mission accomplished. I hope you enjoy the
content below. Have fun studying, and good luck, wherever your
technical career takes you!!

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