Grokking the Coding Interview course review cover art

Grokking the Coding Interview REVIEW [Learn Coding Interview Prep ASAP]

It’s been said before, but software engineer interviews at FAANGs is its own skill set.

And while there’s a healthy debate surrounding their effectiveness, the reality is that these interviews are part of FAANG (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix) workplace culture.

As a result?

FAANG software engineer interview resources are blowing up in popularity.

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TLDR: Grokking the Coding Interview

๐Ÿš€ Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions is an interactive interview prep course on Educative.io. ๐Ÿš€

๐Ÿ’ฅ It’s geared towards aspiring FAANG-level software engineers. ๐Ÿ’ฅ

๐Ÿ—บThe course features 16 patterns that help you map a new problem to an already known problem. ๐Ÿ—บ

From Leetcode to Codewars to HackerRank to AlgoExpert, more FAANG prep platforms seem to pop up weekly.

So what makes Grokking the Coding Interview different from those other FAANG prep resources?


Grokking the Coding Interview: Language Support

The coding playgrounds in Grokking feature environments available for Java, Python3 ๐Ÿ, JavaScript and C++ right in the browser.

Grokking the Coding Interview review try it yourself RealToughCandy
One of the many coding playgrounds in the course

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.

The Secret Sauce of Grokking the Coding Interview: 16 Patterns

Arguably one of the biggest advantages Grokking the Coding Interview has over other platforms like LeetCode is that it features a clear, succinct strategy that emphasizes 16 patterns.

In other words, it doesn’t just dive right into random coding problems and expect you to solve them.

Then, once you understand the pattern, you’ll be able to solve multiple problems using it.

problem statement on grokking the coding interview featuring merge all the overlapping intervals challenge
Merge Intervals challenge (medium difficulty) from the Pattern: Merge Intervals chapter of Grokking the Coding Interview.

You also get plenty of visual aids and other interactivity to help you. Including:

  • 1000 code playgrounds
  • 220 illustrations
  • 125 challenges
  • 184 lessons

Additionally, there’s a help section for each challenge if you get stuck.

Grokking the Coding Interview review help pages RealToughCandy
Help pages for the Two Pointers pattern

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.

Stumped? That’s expected. ๐Ÿ˜‰ In addition to the help area, there’s also a solution snippet provided for each challenge.

Solution snippet with code
The solutions to the problems are in an IDE that runs in your browser.

Explore more inside this course with our video review:

Who could benefit from this course?

  • Aspiring FAANG-level software engineers

Who should probably NOT take this course?

  • Code newbies
  • Jr. developers not applying to FAANGs or equivalent

How long does it take to finish Grokking the Coding Interview?

Tab that shows how long it takes to complete Grokking the Coding Interview

According to the course creators, Grokking takes about 50 hours to complete.


How much does it cost?

Educative.io offers a few different pricing options for Grokking the Coding Interview.

The first main option is a subscription.

You can choose a monthly, yearly, or two-year service. These subscriptions give you access to all of Educative.ioโ€™s hundreds of courses.

Subscription prices range from about $15 a month up to $60 per month.

Keep in mind, the annual plans are billed yearly.

Alternatively, Educative.io also sells their courses individually.

If you choose that option, this course costs around $80 for yearly access.


All in all, Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions is a feature-rich, practical, challenging course.

๐Ÿšจ However, it isn’t for code newbies. It’s ideal for aspiring FAANG software engineers.

That said? In my opinion, this an insanely helpful FAANG-level interview prep resource.


Grokking the Coding Interview Review readers also also exploring:

  1. Is Grokking the Coding Interview worth it?

    In our opinion, Grokking the Coding Interview is worth it. This interactive interview prep course for aspiring FAANG engineers features a clear, succinct strategy that emphasizes 16 patterns. Once you understand the pattern, youโ€™ll be able to solve multiple problems using it. The robust coding playgrounds feature environments available for Java, Python3, JavaScript and C++ right in the browser. And if you get stumped, you can always check out the correct answer in the solution snippet. Read more about this course in today’s post.

  2. Where can I find patterns for coding questions?

    There are 16 patterns for coding questions in the course Grokking the Coding Interview on Educative.io. The idea is that once you understand the pattern, you’ll be able to solve multiple problems using it. This course contains ample robust coding playgrounds, snippets and illustrations. And the playgrounds are available in Java, Python3, JavaScript and C++. Discover more about this course in today’s post.

  3. Does Grokking the Coding Interview have pattern based questions?

    Yes, the course Grokking the Coding Interview on Educative.io has pattern based questions. Once you learn these patterns, you’ll be better able to answer various coding questions using said patterns. The coding environments offer patterns in Java, Python3, JavaScript and C++. There are hundreds of code snippets, illustrations, lessons, challenges and playgrounds in the course. Read today’s post to find out more.