Summary: Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions is an interactive interview prep course for FAANG-level engineers. The secret sauce of the course is 16 patterns that help the interviewee map a new problem to an already known problem. Code samples are in Java, Python 3, JavaScript and C++.
It’s been said before, but interviewing for FAANG companies is its own skill set.
Disclosure: I’m an enthusiastic affiliate of Educative.io and may get compensated if you buy something.
While there’s debate surrounding their effectiveness, the reality is that these interviews are part of FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix) workplace culture.
As a result? FAANG engineer interview prep courses are their own cottage industry now. From Leetcode to Codewars to hackerrank to AlgoExpert, more seem to pop up weekly. Although Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions does cost money, the price is modest when compared to how much you’ll earn once you pass your interview and receive an offer from a FAANG.
While this course is relatively new, it may be easy to pass over when so many free resources are available. But checking out Grokking the Coding Interview further, there are a lot of added features the free stuff just doesn’t offer.
For example, the robust coding playgrounds feature environments available for Java, Python3, JavaScript and C++ right in the browser:
This feature alone not only saves you the step of setting up a coding environment, but if you’re only using one screen, you eliminate the need to click from app to app. It’s kind of a boss move.
The Secret Sauce: 16 Patterns
One of the advantages Grokking the Coding Interview has over other platforms is that it features a clear, succinct strategy. In other words, it doesn’t just dive right into random coding problems and expect you to solve them. This course contains 16 patterns based on similarities in the techniques you need to solve them. Then, once you understand the pattern, you’ll be able to solve numerous problems using it.
After an introduction to the pattern you’re given challenges ranging from easy to medium to hard. With over:
- 1000 code playgrounds (you get an IDE right in the browser)
- 220 illustrations
- 125 challenges
- 184 lessons
…this course comes equipped with all the extras. There is also a help section in each chapter if you have questions:
Some of the 16 patterns you’ll learn include:
- Merge Intervals
- Two Pointers
- Sliding Window
- Tree Breadth First Search
- Two Heaps
- Subsets
- Top ‘K’ elements
- Topological Sort (Graph)
And many more.
While there are plenty of opportunities for you to explore the code, the answers are also prepared for you when you get stuck:
Who should take this course?
- FAANG job seekers
Who should NOT take this course?
- Code newbies
- Jr. developers not applying to FAANGs or equivalent
The nice thing about Grokking the Coding Interview is that you can buy a monthly subscription to Educative.io. That way, you can enjoy this course and dozens of others. Additionally, this course is part of a learning track called Ace the Java Coding Interview, consisting of eight other courses in total. (Check out my review of Grokking the System Design Interview.)
In my opinion, the subscription is worth the investment even if you only prepare for a technical interview.
| Level | Lessons | Challenges | Playgrounds | Code Snippets | Illustrations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intermediate | 184 | 125 | 1059 | 329 | 220 |
All in all, Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions is a feature-rich, practical, challenging and high-quality course.
It’ll probably turn off those who prefer free resources. And it definitely isn’t for code newbies. But with all the features of this course, plus the diverse programming languages available, you can’t go wrong if you’re preparing for a FAANG interview.
Built-in IDE with no setup time
Languages available in Java, Python 3, JavaScript and C++
Lots of challenges
Over 1000 coding playgrounds
Patterns seem randomly organized - no real order
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SUMMARY
All in all, Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions is a feature-rich, practical, challenging and high-quality course.It'll probably turn off those who prefer free resources. And it definitely isn't for code newbies. But with all the features of this course, plus the diverse programming languages available, you can't go wrong if you're preparing for a FAANG interview. |
4.8
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