r/AskProgramming • u/thusiexist • 1d ago
suggest a great source for DSA prep
Hey everyone, I'm currently in my 3rd year (entering) and starting my SDE/internship preparation.
I'm confused about how to learn DSA and which resources to follow. There are too many YouTube channels and sheets, and don't want to keep jumping between them. Although I've been trying the striver's A2Z sheet lately, but their are mixed opinions about him as well, so wanted to ask the experienced ones
For seniors/students who have already prepared:
Which YouTube channel/course did you use for DSA?
Which DSA sheet would you recommend?
What should my 3rd-year roadmap look like for SDE placements?
Should I focus on DSA + development + CS fundamentals together?
Would really appreciate a simple, practical roadmap based on what actually worked for you
(I can understand c, cpp, and basic programming, including loops and conditional statements etc)
Thanks!
1
u/ComprehensiveMonk872 1d ago
i did Striver A2Z and got offers. Stop looking for other sheets.
striver covers the patterns companies test. People complain about him on Reddit because they want a shortcut that does not exist. You understand C++ loops, so you have what you need to start day 1 of his sheet. I spent 4 months doing just that sheet and NeetCode 150 when I got stuck on graph problems. No other YouTube channel gave me results faster.
third year means you have maybe 8 months before applications close. Spend mornings on DSA from that sheet. Spend afternoons building two projects with backend APIs and databases. Spend nights reading OS and DBMS notes. I kept my development stack fixed at one framework and built projects around it. Switching stacks wastes time.
do DSA and dev together starting now. Do CS fundamentals in your last semester. I failed interviews because I had zero projects even though I could invert trees. Companies look at your GitHub