Cracking the Coding Interview is the mantra for every software developer looking for a job. These books go over what to expect during the technical interview, how to prepare for it, and the basic concepts. But the most important part is that it also provides us with a lot of coding problems, hints, and solutions.
Interview Questions
This first chapter goes about:
- Why interviews are structured how they are
- How questions are selected
- Frequently asked questions
By having a better understanding of the logic behind the interview, you can better prepare for it.
Behavioral Questions
We know soft skills are important, especially when finding the right cultural fit. These kinds of questions are looking for our personality and how we interact with people. Wondering, would I have a beer with this person?
And like everything else, it takes practice to answer these types of questions. Just remember that not everything is about the conditionals and the loops. They also need to know about your values and how they combine with the company.
Big O
Big O notation is a mathematical notation that describes the limiting behavior of a function when the argument tends towards a particular value or infinity. This is kind of a big deal in the tech community, and this book has a really long chapter just on this subject. In conclusion, you need to master it.
Technical Questions
In this chapter, the highlight is how to walk through a problem. And the author gives four Optimize & Solve Techniques:
- DIY (yes, Do It Yourself)
- Simplify and Generalize
- Base Case and Build
- Data Structure Brainstorm
This section also covers the best conceivable run time, how to handle incorrect answers, repetitive questions, and good coding examples (or best practices).
The Offer and Beyond
In this section, the author gives types, best practices, and more on how to handle and offer in case we get the job. How to handle expectations, and to get overwhelmed when talking about money.
The Code
This is the most exciting part of the book, and yes! The code. The author gives us almost two hundred problems, with solutions and hints. Many of these problems challenge us to think in terms of Data Structures, and manly Big O notation. The topics cover:
- Data Structures — arrays and strings, linked lists, stacks, and queues, trees, and graphs
- Concepts and Algorithms — bit manipulation, math, and logic puzzles, object-oriented design, recursion and dynamic programming, system design, and scalability, sorting and searching, testing.
- General knowledge of Java, C, C+, databases, threads, and locks.
Conclusion
If you are going into a tech career, you want to expand your knowledge of your Computer Science degree, or you just want to practice a little. Cracking The Coding Interview would be your best friend in all of this process. It covers A-Z; real-life questions and experience.
