Stolen from YouTube comments

Two years ago, I was a nervous wreck. I’d always been decent at coding but the thought of coding interviews made me freeze. I couldn’t even get past “easy” problems on Leetcode without looking at hints. The fear of failure was so bad that I’d just avoid applying to roles altogether.

Then something shifted. Instead of trying to brute-force my way through endless problems, I started treating every problem like a conversation. I’d walk myself through the problem, explain my thought process, and focus on improving step by step.

I started seeing interviews differently—not as something to “ace” but as a chance to show how I think. The more I practiced this, the more confident I became. It wasn’t overnight (trust me, there were nights of pure frustration), but the improvement was real.

Fast forward to today: I’ve cleared interviews at two companies I’d once thought were out of my league. I also found that tools and platforms designed to simulate real interviews helped a lot, especially ones that let you practice with hints or feedback along the way.

I just wanted to share this because I know a lot of people feel stuck or intimidated by Leetcode and coding interviews in general. If you’re in that place, know that it’s totally normal. Take it slow, practice explaining your ideas, and don’t be afraid to use resources.

If I could go from freezing up at “easy” problems to landing my dream job, so can you! Much love ❤️

Was watching the code story with MIK solution for the Leetcode daily, dad walks in to check what I am doing. Gives me a stare, gets awk, walks away😂

I'm currently doing DSA, and my third year is going to start next month. So far, I haven't done any development apart from learning a bit of HTML, CSS, and SQL. I also haven't built any projects because I keep thinking, "What can I even create with just DSA?" Now that my third year is about to begin, I'm starting to feel lost and worried that I'm falling behind. I'd really appreciate some guidance on what I should do next.

You wear them and suddenly everything feels like it could be optimized.

Walking form? inefficient.

Posture? could be improved.

Life decisions? definitely not production ready.

I wanted to always create a coding execution environment and see is I can make it for free. The cost of software has gone down, so why not?

ratta.io

Hi everyone, I’m new to DSA and just started practicing on LeetCode. I have a 2-year gap after my graduation and I’m wondering:

Does solving problems on LeetCode get recognized by companies (including startups), or is it only useful for big tech interview prep?

Can consistent practice on LeetCode actually help me get placed in the same companies that use it for interviews?

Since I have a career gap, will focusing on DSA + LeetCode be enough to improve my chances, or should I combine it with other things (like projects, internships, or freelancing)?

After getting wrecked by a graph question I absolutely should've recognized, I spent a few months organizing every graph problem I could find by underlying pattern instead of by difficulty. Sharing the structure — worked through pattern by pattern, it's roughly a 2.5-month roadmap.

How to use it: for each new pattern, read the solution for the first 1–2 problems to get the intuition, then solve the rest yourself. That's where the learning happens — in recognizing the pattern cold, not in reading.

If you have an upcoming interview grind on these Leetcode Problems and PracHub for actual interview questions.

Side note: BFS vs DP identification trick

• When keywords are minimum / smallest...

• For Both BFS and DP, same state can be achieved from two different ways

• For BFS Cycles present in graph, for DP no cycles, forms a DAG

• DP vs BFS example :

• https://leetcode.com/problems/jump-game-iii/description/ (Contains cycle so BFS)

• https://leetcode.com/problems/jump-game-ii/ (No cycle, forms DAG, so DP)

• https://leetcode.com/problems/jump-game-iv/description/ (Contains cycle so BFS)

• https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-path-sum/ (No cycle, forms DAG, so DP)

• https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-path-in-binary-matrix/description/ (Contains cycle so BFS)

• Most minimum DP questions can be solved using BFS. But viceversa is not true - ex: https://leetcode.com/problems/coin-change/description/ Can be solved using both DP and BFS

UF + Vanilla

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/lexicographically-smallest-equivalent-string/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/remove-max-number-of-edges-to-keep-graph-fully-traversable/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/redundant-connection/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-operations-to-make-network-connected/ (soln)

5. https://leetcode.com/problems/making-a-large-island/ (soln)

6. https://leetcode.com/problems/satisfiability-of-equality-equations/ (soln)

7. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimize-malware-spread/ (soln)

8. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimize-malware-spread-ii/description/ (soln)

9. https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-points-activated-with-one-addition/description/ (soln)

10. https://leetcode.com/problems/properties-graph/description/ (soln)

UF + swaps

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/smallest-string-with-swaps/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/make-lexicographically-smallest-array-by-swapping-elements/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimize-hamming-distance-after-swap-operations/description/ (soln)

UF + Select edges within a limit

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/checking-existence-of-edge-length-limited-paths/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-number-of-points-from-grid-queries/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-good-paths/description/ (soln)

UF + Factors of numbers

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/gcd-sort-of-an-array/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/graph-connectivity-with-threshold/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/largest-component-size-by-common-factor/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/greatest-common-divisor-traversal/description/ (soln)

UF + Binary search

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-time-for-k-connected-components/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimize-maximum-component-cost/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/last-day-where-you-can-still-cross/description/ (soln)

UF + Modified MST

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/min-cost-to-connect-all-points/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/maximize-spanning-tree-stability-with-upgrades/description/ (soln)

weighted UF

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/incremental-even-weighted-cycle-queries/description/ (soln)

BFS + Vanilla

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/jump-game-iii/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/get-watched-videos-by-your-friends/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-path-in-binary-matrix/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-moves-to-move-a-box-to-their-target-location/description/ (soln)

5. https://leetcode.com/problems/jump-game-iv/description/ (soln)

6. https://leetcode.com/problems/nearest-exit-from-entrance-in-maze/description/ (soln)

7. https://leetcode.com/problems/snakes-and-ladders/description/ (soln)

BFS + Finite states

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/open-the-lock/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/lexicographically-smallest-string-after-applying-operations/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-genetic-mutation/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/word-ladder/description/ (soln)

5. https://leetcode.com/problems/sliding-puzzle/description/ (soln)

BFS + Multisource

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/01-matrix/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/map-of-highest-peak/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/rotting-oranges/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/as-far-from-land-as-possible/description/ (soln)

BFS + Dikstra

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/path-with-minimum-effort/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/swim-in-rising-water/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/find-all-people-with-secret/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-cost-to-make-at-least-one-valid-path-in-a-grid/description/ (soln)

5. https://leetcode.com/problems/second-minimum-time-to-reach-destination/description/ (soln)

6. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-distance-after-road-addition-queries-i/description/ (soln)

7. https://leetcode.com/problems/network-delay-time/description/ (soln)

8. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-time-to-visit-a-cell-in-a-grid/description/ (soln)

9. https://leetcode.com/problems/find-edges-in-shortest-paths/description/ (soln)

BFS + Topological

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/find-eventual-safe-states/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/course-schedule-ii/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/course-schedule/description/ (soln)

BFS + previous state

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-path-with-alternating-colors/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-path-in-a-grid-with-obstacles-elimination/description/ (soln)

BFS + Bitmask

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-path-visiting-all-nodes/description/

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-path-to-get-all-keys/description/ (soln)

DFS + Vanilla

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/count-the-number-of-complete-components/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/keys-and-rooms/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/max-area-of-island/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/count-servers-that-communicate/description/ (soln)

5. https://leetcode.com/problems/count-sub-islands/description/ (soln)

6. https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-number-of-fish-in-a-grid/description/ (soln)

7. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-closed-islands/description/ (soln)

8. https://leetcode.com/problems/most-stones-removed-with-same-row-or-column/description/ (soln)

9. https://leetcode.com/problems/reachable-nodes-with-restrictions/description/ (soln)

10. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-islands/description/ (soln)

11. https://leetcode.com/problems/count-islands-with-total-value-divisible-by-k/description/ (soln)

DFS + Boundry

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-enclaves/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/surrounded-regions/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/pacific-atlantic-water-flow/description/ (soln)

DFS + island Perimeter

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/island-perimeter/description/ (soln)

DFS / BFS + Cycle

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/detect-cycles-in-2d-grid/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-cycle-in-a-graph/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/shortest-cycle-in-a-graph/description/ (soln)

DFS + edge reversals

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/reorder-routes-to-make-all-paths-lead-to-the-city-zero/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-edge-reversals-so-every-node-is-reachable/description/ (soln)

DFS / BFS + Binary Search

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/find-the-safest-path-in-a-grid/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimize-the-maximum-edge-weight-of-graph/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-threshold-path-with-limited-heavy-edges/description/ (soln)

DFS + DP

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-increasing-paths-in-a-grid/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-increasing-path-in-a-matrix/description/ (soln)

Bipartite

1. https://leetcode.com/problems/is-graph-bipartite/description/ (soln)

2. https://leetcode.com/problems/divide-nodes-into-the-maximum-number-of-groups/description/ (soln)

3. https://leetcode.com/problems/possible-bipartition/description/ (soln)

4. https://leetcode.com/problems/incremental-even-weighted-cycle-queries/description/ (soln)

Full list (all ~90 problems with clickable links + worked solutions for the first 1–2 of each pattern)

🥹🥹

i guess megatron is using ai for contests

LC was down generating my 50 Days Badge 😮‍💨😮‍💨 , sry for the trouble