The Interview Study Guide For Software Engineers

By Ben Rogojan

Software engineering interviews, like other technical interviews, require plenty of preparation. There are a number of subjects that need to be covered in order to ensure you are ready for back-to-back questions on algorithms, data structures, design, optimization and honestly just an ever growing basket of subjects.

So I created a checklist on my last round of interviews that covers many of the popular topics.

To help you keep track of your progress, we've compiled a comprehensive checklist of the same problems listed below; that list can be found here.

Warm Up With The Classics

How did you do? Take a moment and rate yourself on these classics. We have been asked most of these at some point in the interview process---and often early on as weed-out style questions. They often have less to do with algorithms and data structures, but still require a good understanding of loops and arrays (yes, an array is a data structure).

Algorithms And Data Structures

Pre-Study Problems

Before going through the video content about data structures and algorithms, consider trying out these problems below. See if you can answer them. This will help you know what to focus on.

Algorithms And Data Structures Videos

Dynamic Programming

String Manipulation

Coding Interview Question and Answer: Longest Consecutive Characters --- Video
Sedgewick --- Substring Search --- Video

Interview Problem Walk-throughs

Google Coding Interview --- Universal Value Tree Problem --- Video
Google Coding Interview Question and Answer #1: First Recurring Character --- Video
Find min and max element in a binary search tree --- Video
Find height of a binary tree --- Video
Check if a binary tree is binary search tree or not --- Video
What Is Tail Recursion? Why Is It So Bad? --- Video

Post-Study Problems

Now that you have studied for a bit, and watched a few videos, let's try some more problems!

Operational Programming Problems

Some companies won't ask you algorithm problems. Instead, they might focus more on implementation and operational problems. These are usually more niche and involve practical problems, like looping through data and performing a task of some sort. These types of problems don't usually require as much practice because it is more about taking basic concepts like arrays and HashMaps and keeping track of what you are doing to them.

System Design Videos

System design questions are crucial questions that show you are more than just a coder. You need to be able to think big picture as an engineer. Where do certain services belong, what kind of servers do you need, how would you manage traffic, etc. All of these ideas show that you are able to design software, not just code what people tell you to code.

Parking Lot System --- Video
Whats App --- Video
Uber design --- Video
Instagram --- Video
Tinder Service --- Video

Operating Systems

Operating system questions are a little more rare, but it is good to have a solid understanding of concepts like threads, scheduling, memory, etc., even if it is just a basic understanding. It is very embarrassing to get asked what the difference is between a process and a thread and not know the answer.

Threads

Object Oriented

Similar to operating systems, not every interview will ask you about object-oriented programming, but you never know. You want to make sure you remember your basics from your computer 162 course.

Java Programming Tutorial --- 49 --- Inheritance --- Video
Java Programming Tutorial --- 55 --- Introduction to Polymorphism --- Video
Java Programming Tutorial --- 58 --- Abstract and Concrete Classes --- Video
Java Programming Tutorial --- 57 --- Overriding Rules --- Video
Java Programming Tutorial --- 59 --- Class to Hold Objects
Object-Oriented Programming --- Video

Design Patterns

If you were like us, we weren't taught about all the various design patterns. So it's good to get an understanding of how they work and why you would use them. Some interview questions can be as simple as, "Why would you use a factory class?"

Factory Design Pattern --- Video
Observer Design Pattern --- Video
Adapter Design Pattern --- Video
Facade Design Pattern --- Video
Chain of Responsibility Design Pattern --- Video
Interpreter Design Pattern --- Video
Singleton Design Pattern Tutorial --- Video
Chapter 6 (Part 1) --- Patterns (video) --- Video
Head First Design Patterns --- Video

SQL

This is the last section. Many of you probably won't be asked that many SQL questions. However, I always think it is good to have in your back pocket.

SQL --- Problems

SQL --- Videos

IQ15: 6 SQL Query Interview Questions --- Video
Learning about ROW_NUMBER and Analytic Functions --- Video
Advanced Implementation Of Analytic Functions --- Video
Advanced Implementation Of Analytic Functions Part 2 --- Video
Wise Owl SQL Videos --- Video

Post SQL Problems

Interviewing can be tough because you can feel like you are making no progress. Having this study guide will help you track your progress and give you a better read on how you are doing!

Good luck!

Also, if you are looking to read/watch more great posts or videos:
Connecting To Big Query Using Jupyter Notebook On SaturnCloud Part 2

Three Books You Should Read As A Data Scientist
Hadoop Vs Relational Databases
How Algorithms Can Become Unethical and Biased
How To Improve Your Data Driven Strategy
How To Develop Robust Algorithms
4 Must Have Skills For Data Scientists
SQL Best Practices — Designing An ETL Video

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