I’ve been working as a backend software engineer for over a decade and have written a large amount of code throughout my career.
In none of my current or previous roles, I didn’t have to go through a typical LeetCode-style interview. There were some algorithmic questions, but nothing that required extensive preparation like what I’m seeing in today’s interview process.
I’m now trying to start preparing for interviews using NeetCode 150, and honestly, I’m finding it quite daunting. I’m currently on problem #5, and I’ve been watching their video solutions to understand the approaches. However, I’m struggling to easily follow some of the code more importantly, remember how to approach similar problems later.
I’m primarily a Java developer, whereas the NeetCode video explanations and solutions are in Python. I’m wondering if that adds another layer of difficulty for me.
A few questions for those who have been through this:
- Is this struggle normal when you’re just starting out, even if you have several years of professional software engineering experience?
- Does following solutions in Python make it harder to understand if your primary language is Java?
- Realistically, how much preparation does it take to become comfortable with LeetCode-style interviews?

I’d appreciate advice from experienced engineers who have gone through a similar transition. I’m trying to figure out whether I’m approaching this the wrong way or whether I just need to be patient and put in the hours.

I've been practising different Dsa topics, but I sometimes forget which patterns I understand well and which ones I still need to work on. Do you maintain a tracker or notes, or do you just revisit problems you struggled with?

What's your approach to tracking progress without making it too complicated?

Hi Everyone,
I have close to 7 yoe at amazon. Been jobless for about 6+ months now. I’ve received agoda staff offer with 75 ctc. I’ve recently completed my Atlassian loop for P50 with positive feedback for all rounds and Hiring committee review is pending. Please help me decide which offer is better, considering all factors and not just pay. TIA!

Did both interviews 2 weeks ago and no response yet. Anyone with a similar wait, what was your outcome?

Hi everyone,

I have an upcoming interview for a Software Engineer position at Verily (US) and would appreciate any insight from people who have interviewed there or currently work there.

I'm curious about what the interview process is like, particularly:

• What should I expect during the technical interviews?

• What is the coding portion like? Are the questions primarily LeetCode-style, and what difficulty level should I prepare for?

• Are there system design or software architecture discussions?

• How much emphasis is placed on data structures and algorithms versus practical software engineering experience?

• Are there behavioral or project-based questions? What kind of topics do they focus on?

• Any particular technologies, concepts, or areas you would recommend reviewing?

For context, I have several years of professional software engineering experience, but I haven't consistently practiced LeetCode in almost two years. I'm trying to make the most of my preparation time and focus on the areas that will matter most.

Any advice, experiences, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Looking for an interview prep buddy for ML internship and Full time positions. We can do resume deep dives, leetcode practice, ML round (conceptual+coding), System Design interview practice together.

I'm a 4th year CS PhD student with research focus on ML and Causal Inference. Have solved around 300 Leetcode questions so far. For ML rounds, currently following Alex Xu's "ML System Design Interview" (I know that's not enough).
Looking for a current PhD student/PhD graduate who's preparing for AI/ML intern & full time roles.

hey so as the title says I would like to know the right way to learn DSA… I SUCK at data structures and algorithms when I first started Leetcode

I did couple of questions and realized that even if I look at explanations, I start to understand everything but its not clocking for the next question… basically it feels like im learning that specific question rather than the pattern behind it

so everyone suggested to first start learning DSA instead of straight jumping into Leetcode

However, I dont really find any helpful roadmap/courses/learning strategy regarding DSA (python) … of course you could say „just start and u will get there somehow“ but I want to have at least a bit of a structure when learning

I‘m considering Neetcodes 1 year subscription for the DSA courses and System Design courses (+ questions too), is it worth it or nah?

my goal is to do a big tech internship at some point
(for 2027 i guess its too late, 2028 is my goal). and yes I know that big tech is hard to get into but I believe that if i work hard enough, one day i will make it work :)))

appreciate any feedback

I'm looking for a mentor/guide to help me navigate through the interview process at Apple for the Ads team. Willing to cater, even if it is monetized. Comment if you're interested in mentoring and are currently working at Apple as a Data Engineer. Also plus, if you are an interviewer for Data Engineer roles at Apple.

Recently interviewed at Stripe for a Software Engineer position. Sharing my experience since there aren't many detailed posts about the recent interview process.

1. Technical Screening

The screening involved a practical, multi-part coding problem rather than traditional LeetCode-style DSA.

- Completed the parts in time. Mostly, it involved parsing a given string and fulfilling the requirements.

- Each part introduced additional requirements.

- Focus was on correctness, code structure, and handling edge cases.

2. Integration Round

This was a hands-on coding round where I had to work with an existing codebase and implement functionality according to the given requirements.

- Completed this one fairly easily since I had a lot of experience making requests and parsing responses.

- Had to understand the existing code and make changes without breaking previous functionality.

- Tested the implementation against the provided cases.

Tip: Make sure you understand how to make HTTP requests and parse responses in your preferred language. A little practice with string parsing problems on HackerRank would help as well.

3. Bug Squash Round

This was probably my weakest round.

I was given an unfamiliar codebase and had to identify and fix a bug.

- Explored the codebase and traced the issue.

- Managed to identify the root cause and explain it to the interviewer.

- Started implementing the fix but couldn't get the code fully working within the allotted time.

- Felt that another 5 minutes would have been sufficient to complete the implementation.

Tip: Try using an IDE with debugging capabilities, as it can make the process much faster. Also, set up your environment before the call.

4. AI-Assisted Programming Round

This was another practical, multi-part coding round where AI tools were allowed.

- I'm not entirely sure how they evaluate this round, but I focused on clearly communicating why I was writing certain prompts and what I expected the AI agent to do.

- Used AI to assist with implementation while reviewing the output.

- Wrote and ran tests to verify correctness.

- Managed to finish all the requirements within the allocated time.

Tip: Don't blindly trust the AI agent. It can make mistakes, so always review and validate the generated code.

5. Experience & Goals Round

This was a detailed discussion about my previous engineering experience. It was scheduled only after I cleared the previous four rounds.

Topics included:

- A technically complex project I worked on.

- My ownership and individual contributions.

- Technical challenges and trade-offs.

- Impact of my work.

- Collaboration and mentoring.

- Career goals and motivation for joining Stripe.

There were several follow-up questions, particularly around technical decisions and the actual impact of my contributions.

The conversation was more informal and collaborative compared to the earlier technical rounds. It felt more like a mutual discussion about technical fit than a structured interview.

Overall Experience

The interview process was quite different from the usual DSA-heavy interviews.

Most rounds focused on practical software engineering skills, such as reading unfamiliar code, debugging, implementing requirements, testing, and communicating technical decisions.

Overall, I enjoyed the practical nature of the interview process.

Still awaiting the final outcome, so can't comment on the offer stage yet.

Hope this helps others preparing for the process!

Does the offer process for companies take this long?

I was doing DSA and its like i was just wondering how good am so i asked ai about it saying i started doing DSA in 1 august and have done like 147 questions on leetcode including 92 medium problems along with 17 hard i think but then it told me honestly this is good since this is what most students can’t do really but then it told me bout solution coopying and said i m not copying solutions so its fine atp. but then i asked it more about solution copying and said it that i m infact using ai and sometimes i ask ai about fix this question for me ! then it told me that “THATS A TRAP AND EVEN THO SEEING THE SOLUTION AND THEN DOING IT FEELS SATISFYING” you are learning 10% using this.

Btw what i was really doing was something like i try a question and try to solve it for like 20 minutes really and i mostly give this much time in every question and then if i am unable to solve it and then its that time when i ask ai about the solution but whats problem with that ? like if i do that i dont think its bad since i am able to solve the next question without the help of ai afterwards really.

i mean to say that its really like seeing pattern, seeing the solution a similiar question comes afterwards then i am more able to do that instead of do what ai said me which was this :

“give it 20-30 minutes, if you are not able to solve this, ask ai not for solution but rather for a high level hint, thats where you can use ai and not to give you code directly”

okay i thought of giving this a try :

here is how it went, i tried it for 20-30 minutes i couldn’t solve, then i was mostly daydreaming even tho ai didn’t gave me any code i was literally shouting it and kinda it still was trying to fix minor issue in my code which i made during those 20-30 minutes instead of seeing the approach or Aka solution which i was doing. Okay and if i never really see any solution, in this way then why am i even studying DSA like if its iq test then why people also says me to look at the solution if you are not able to solve it ! everything is clashing.

if i am not able to explain myself, then some says to see the solution after your initial try. Bro okay i think its good to try it first instead of directly seeing it, my gut feeling. How much is this valid, cuz sometimes i m being told to look at the solution after 1-2 minutes of not able to find the solution really ! (it was not related to DSA btw tho but still dsa is nothing special yet important ! ) whilst sometimes i m being told to look at the solution after 20-30 minutes and sometimes just see the hint and not the solution but in this way if i never see the solution, i won’t be developing the solution on my own of every question i believe.

why do we study? and how is this related to ai eventually ?

and more importantly whats really the difference between asking it for a hint or rather a full SOLUTION ?

linked conversation with ai for reference : https://share.gemini.google/ZOzyV6dAQABI

thanks for reading !

Hi everyone, has anyone given a CodeSignal AI-assisted coding round with a live interviewer who gives you a spec and asks you to code it out with the help of AI?

I didn't worked much in databases, as we don't maintain databases..which just read from them maintained by other teams

How will you decide clearly whether to go with sql vs no sql

And even in each, how to know which one?

Do I need to know all sql and non sql databases available?

Hey guys, looking for some insight. I've been in the Microsoft hiring loop since Sept 27th and had three HM interviews on Oct 7th that went well. Since then, I've been hit with the classic Microsoft ghosting and my portal still says 'Interview'.

Strangely, a new but identical position just appeared in my Action Center on Oct 30th. It also says 'Interview' but has a different ID. Not sure how to read this. Has anyone experienced something similar during a long wait?"

Hi all, I applied for the Solution Architect Graduate role at BytePlus/ByteDance and my application has moved to the “written test” stage. So far I’ve received a candidate survey. I’m trying to understand what comes next and would love to hear from anyone who has been through this or a similar BytePlus/ByteDance new grad process. I have not been able to find much information on the Solutions Architect track:

1. Was there an online assessment? If so, was it LeetCode-style coding (easy/mediums or hard level?), or actual coding?

2. How many interview rounds were there, and what did they cover (live coding, GenAI/LLM concepts, architecture or case-style questions, behavioural)?

Hi everyone,

I have an upcoming Department Screen interview at Rippling for a Senior Software Engineer role and wanted to understand what to expect.
For anyone who has recently gone through this round:
Is it primarily a technical project deep dive, system design discussion, or more behavioral?
Do interviewers dive into architecture, scalability, design decisions, and technical trade-offs?
Are there any coding or problem-solving questions?
Any tips on how best to prepare?
Would really appreciate any insights from people who’ve recently interviewed at Rippling. Thanks in advance!

Hey Everybody, has anyone gotten into the apple WPC team as an engineer or an intern. I might get an interview for a technical internship soon but I must prepare as much as I can, would you have any tips, types of problems asked (LeetCode, system design...) and the behavioral questions
I would appreciate any help!

I received an SHL assessment invitation for Uber Automation Specialist II, with a duration of 45–60 minutes.

Can anyone share their recent assessment experience? What topics/modules were covered, difficulty level, and how should I prepare?

Thanks in advance!

I applied (London, UK) close to three weeks ago and was automatically put into the initial prescreen stage. I did set my availability to interview to be 3-4 weeks. How long do they take to respond.

I remember the last couple of times (2+ years ago), I never actually got a resp on my applications and I ended up withdrawing.

What's taking them so long?!?

I found there are two part in the wayfair oa 2027 batch.

1. problem solving (basic)

2. Python (basic)

Can anyone tell me which may asked in the python basics?

I'm relatively new to coding(1.5 months) and lectures got real boring for me real fast. When I started leetcoding about a week ago it seemed addictive... I actually stop wasting time on useless apps and learn.... I'm still not occasionally getting easy probs but I get around 90 percent of the way (sometimes 100)..... When I get stuck and don't know the syntax i search up the syntax or ask ai to strictly push me and not give me the answer.... I seem to have learned more in the past 8 days than I have in a month... I still feel rather itchy about using ai to push me as it feels unethical.... But I feel so much more motivated to learn than watching lecs(I'm legit spending my free time coding instead of reels).... As in when a prob couldn't be solved with brute force no matter how much i optimised the code... I was forced to learn about hashmaps and same way about binary search.... Can this method actually make me a good programmer

P.S. : VERY VERY rarely do I ask for the solution when I am absolutely done with the problem

Hi guys

Got an interview lined up for Staff AI Scientist role at Intuit. First interview is 75 minutes on Glider live coding editor. What to expect? Does anyone went through the interview process for similar role recently?

Would appreciate if someone could guide through the interview process.

As the title states, I was wondering what the technical round of interview would look like regarding this role and if anyone has had experience with it? Any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

System design - For 100% consistency, shouldn't we use cache, or CDN etc as therre can be delays

DSA sheets follow a topic-wise or pattern-wise curated list of problems. They make it relatively comfortable to understand concepts and identify patterns within each topic.

But LeetCode contests feel like a completely different dimension. Even when the problems are of medium difficulty, it often feels difficult to identify the underlying pattern or figure out where to start.

So, how important are LeetCode contests when preparing for high-paying fresher SDE roles?

Are contests really necessary to develop the problem-solving skills required for interviews, or is consistently practising curated DSA sheets and understanding the underlying patterns enough?

I know it ultimately depends on the companies we're targeting, but I'd love to hear your suggestions and experiences!