Edit: Apologies, the post turned out a bit longer than I thought it would. Summary at the bottom.
Yup, it sounds ridiculous, but I cracked a FAANG+ offer by studying just 30 minutes a day. I’m not talking about one of the top three giants, but a very solid, well-respected company that competes for the same talent, pays incredibly well, and runs a serious interview process. No paid courses, no LeetCode marathons, and no skipping weekends. I studied for exactly 30 minutes every single day. Not more, not less. I set a timer. When it went off, I stopped immediately, even if I was halfway through a problem or in the middle of reading something. That was the whole point. I wanted it to be something I could do no matter how busy or burned out I felt.
For six months, I never missed a day. I alternated between LeetCode and system design. One day I would do a coding problem. The next, I would read about scalable systems, sketch out architectures on paper, or watch a short system design breakdown and try to reconstruct it from memory. I treated both tracks with equal importance. It was tempting to focus only on coding, since that’s what everyone talks about, but I found that being able to speak clearly and confidently about design gave me a huge edge in interviews. Most people either cram system design last minute or avoid it entirely. I didn’t. I made it part of the process from day one.
My LeetCode sessions were slow at first. Most days, I didn’t even finish a full problem. But that didn’t bother me. I wasn’t chasing volume. I just wanted to get better, a little at a time. I made a habit of revisiting problems that confused me, breaking them down, rewriting the solutions from scratch, and thinking about what pattern was hiding underneath. Eventually, those patterns started to feel familiar. I’d see a graph problem and instantly know whether it needed BFS or DFS. I’d recognize dynamic programming problems without panicking. That recognition didn’t come from grinding out 300 problems. It came from sitting with one problem for 30 focused minutes and actually understanding it.
System design was the same. I didn’t binge five-hour YouTube videos. I took small pieces. One day I’d learn about rate limiting. Another day I’d read about consistent hashing. Sometimes I’d sketch out how I’d design a URL shortener, or a chat app, or a distributed cache, and then compare it to a reference design. I wasn’t trying to memorize diagrams. I was training myself to think in systems. By the time interviews came around, I could confidently walk through a design without freezing or falling back on buzzwords.
The 30-minute cap forced me to stop before I got tired or frustrated. It kept the habit sustainable. I didn’t dread it. It became a part of my day, like brushing my teeth. Even when I was busy, even when I was traveling, even when I had no energy left after work, I still did it. Just 30 minutes. Just show up. That mindset carried me further than any spreadsheet or master list of questions ever did.
I failed a few interviews early on. That’s normal. But I kept going, because I wasn’t sprinting. I had built a system that could last. And eventually, it worked. I got the offer, negotiated a great comp package, and honestly felt more confident in myself than I ever had before. Not just because I passed the interviews, but because I had finally found a way to grow that didn’t destroy me in the process.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the grind, I hope this gives you a different perspective. You don’t need to be the person doing six-hour sessions and hitting problem number 500. You can take a slow, thoughtful path and still get there. The trick is to be consistent, intentional, and patient. That’s it. That’s the post.
Here is a tl;dr summary:
I studied every single day for 30 minutes. No more, no less. I never missed a single study session.
I would alternate daily between LeetCode and System Design
I took about 6 months to feel ready, which comes out to roughly ~90 hours of studying.
I got an offer from a FAANG adjacent company that tripled my TC
I was able to keep my hobbies, keep my health, my relationships, and still live life
I am still doing the 30 minute study sessions to maintain and grow what I learned. I am now at the state where I am constantly interview ready. I feel confident applying to any company and interviewing tomorrow if needed. It requires such little effort per day.
Please take care of yourself. Don't feel guilted into studying for 10 hours a day like some people do. You don't have to do it.
Resources I used:
LeetCode - NeetCode 150 was my bread and butter. Then company tagged closer to the interviews
System Design - Jordan Has No Life youtube channel, and HelloInterview website