--- title: Coding Interview Preparation description: Technical interviews test data structures, algorithms and system design under time pressure. You will learn the core problem patterns, a practice strategy, behavioural-round preparation and how to study efficiently. category: programming-tech subcategory: algorithms-and-data-structures difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/coding-interview-preparation --- # Coding Interview Preparation Technical interviews test data structures, algorithms and system design under time pressure. You will learn the core problem patterns, a practice strategy, behavioural-round preparation and how to study efficiently. ## Available Resources 3 Books • 2 Courses • 3 Websites ## Courses ### 1. Grokking the Coding Interview Paid interactive text course that teaches coding interview problems through reusable patterns such as sliding window, two pointers, fast and slow pointers, merge intervals, tree traversal, topological sort and dynamic programming, so learners can recognise and solve unfamiliar questions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.educative.io/courses/grokking-the-coding-interview **Tags:** coding-interviews, algorithm-patterns, algorithms, data-structures ### 2. Coding Interview University **Author:** John Washam Open-source, multi-month study plan on GitHub listing what to learn for software engineering interviews: big-O, arrays, linked lists, trees, graphs, sorting, dynamic programming and system design, each linked to free videos and readings, so self-taught developers can prepare systematically. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university **Tags:** coding-interviews, data-structures, algorithms, big-o, study-plan ## Youtubes ### 1. interviewing.io Recorded Mock Interviews **Author:** Aline Lerner Full-length recordings of anonymous mock interviews between real candidates and engineers from Google, Meta and Amazon, each ending with the interviewer's unfiltered verdict. Shows pacing, hint-taking and communication failures that written guides describe but never demonstrate. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@interviewingio **Tags:** mock-interviews, coding-interviews, technical-interviews, interview-communication ### 2. Intro to Behavioural Interviews **Author:** Jackson Gabbard A former Facebook engineer who ran roughly a thousand interviews explains what the behavioural round actually scores: signal on conflict, ownership and self-awareness. Explains the round from the grader's side - what the interviewer is writing down and how a story is scored - rather than handing over a list of questions. That inversion is what makes it transferable to any company's behavioural loop. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJKYqLP6MRE **Tags:** behavioral-interviews, interview-preparation, communication, software-engineering-careers ## Books ### 1. Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview **Author:** Gayle Laakmann McDowell, Mike Mroczka, Aline Lerner, Nil Mamano The 2025 sequel to Cracking the Coding Interview, built around thirteen recurring problem patterns such as sliding window and topological sort. Adds 150+ worked problems, a spaced practice plan, behavioural preparation and salary negotiation guidance. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/195570600X?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** coding-interviews, algorithms, data-structures, problem-solving-patterns, salary-negotiation ### 2. Cracking the Coding Interview, 6th Edition **Author:** Gayle Laakmann McDowell 189 problems with full solutions, preceded by chapters on how interviews are actually scored, the big-O refresher most candidates need, and an explicit five-step approach for attacking an unseen problem at the whiteboard. Its value now is the meta-content — how the round is graded, how to structure an answer aloud — more than the problem set, which online judges cover better. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984782850?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** coding-interviews, algorithms, data-structures, big-o-notation, whiteboard-interviews ### 3. Cracking the Coding Interview **Author:** Gayle Laakmann McDowell Fifth edition of the standard software engineering interview guide, with 150 programming questions and worked solutions covering big-O analysis, data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design and databases, plus advice on how major tech companies run hiring. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0984782850?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** coding-interviews, technical-interviews, data-structures, algorithms, big-o ## Websites ### 1. System Design in a Hurry **Author:** Evan King, Stefan Mai A structured delivery framework for the 35-minute system design round: requirements, API, high-level design, deep dives. Written by former Meta and Amazon staff engineers who ran the loops, with breakdowns of commonly asked designs and levelling expectations. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.hellointerview.com/learn/system-design/in-a-hurry/introduction **Tags:** system-design, system-design-interviews, distributed-systems, software-architecture ### 2. Tech Interview Handbook **Author:** Yangshun Tay Free end-to-end guide covering resume, application strategy, algorithm cheatsheets by data structure, behavioural questions and negotiation. Includes the Grind 75 practice list, which orders problems by pattern coverage rather than raw problem count. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.techinterviewhandbook.org/ **Tags:** coding-interviews, algorithms, resume, behavioral-interviews, salary-negotiation ### 3. LeetCode Online judge with thousands of algorithm and data-structure problems sorted by difficulty, topic and company, plus timed contests, discussion threads and study plans. Regular practice builds fluency with common interview problem patterns and writing correct, efficient code under time pressure. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://leetcode.com **Tags:** coding-interviews, algorithm-practice, data-structures, online-judge, problem-patterns --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/coding-interview-preparation