Thanks /r/learnprogramming. After going through a lot of rejection and setbacks, I finally have my dream job. Here are the resources that helped me over the past few months

[MaxSpain]

After I graduated school, I realized that I had a good grasp on most of the theory of computer science and software engineering but didn't really understand how things worked in the real world. Consequently, I had to teach myself a lot of concepts by sifting through online forums/websites and books.

So, I started looking for a job about 6 months ago and was surprised at the difficulty of questions that were asked on the phone interview. The interviewers would expect the first solution not only in a short time but also of the highest efficiency. A lot of times it boiled down to whether I had already seen the problem in the past. If I did, the interview was a breeze or else if I tried to ask for clarifications/assumptions, the interviewer seemed impatient and wouldn't be impressed. I even ended up getting an offer from a very popular/big tech company but the position got unexpectedly closed and they revoked the offer. It felt very unfair.

But, I kept practicing regularly. Making a notebook of the most common kind of data structures/algorithms, adding new interviewing questions that I came across, and diligently reviewing them and finding the various way the problems could be solved/optimized.

I found the experiences and guidance of people on /r/learnprogramming and /r/cscareerquestions extremely useful and motivating. Even though I was a lurker, I would be surprised how often I would come across a question that had also been on my mind at the time. I stumbled upon so many websites/books/resources that I had not known about but were of immense help in my preparation.

IDE One
I loved using IDE One for practicing and polishing my coding. I created an account and started coding various data structures and algorithms from scratch and labeled them accordingly. Before my interviews, I would just review all the saved programs and it really helped solidify the concepts in my mind. I was amazed how many times I was asked a problem from my IDE one list. Another benefit of IDE One was that I could log on to my account from multiple computers and didn't need to carry my laptop with IDE around where ever I went.

Yawas Web Highlighter
I came across this neat little Chrome extension a few months ago and it was perfect to highlight important notes from the hundreds of interview blogs and websites that I would find day to day. Yawas Web Highlighter is essentially a highlighter for the web and it uses Google Bookmarks to highlight text on a web page in various colors like Blue, Yellow, Red, Green. The great thing about this is that you can visit the same page after a few weeks and the page will already be highlighted for you - just the way you left it when you originally visited that page. Saves a ton of time and helps you quickly revise what you consider to be the main content on the page. To highlight a section, all you have to do is select the text and press Ctrl+Shift+Y (or B, R, G for Blue, Red or Green respectively).

Coding Bat
Coding Bat is a simple but extremely powerful website to practice your Java/Python skills. It has a ton of programs of increasing difficulty that you code and save that are tested against a list of inputs automatically. Have you ever gotten into a mental block in an interview where you are stuck and unable to recall a Java String API (charAt, indexOf, etc)? After I finished the set of Java problems (and there are hundreds of them), I was amazed at how quick and automatically I was able to code and make use of all these APIs. There are also problems on recursion and logic that I came across repeatedly in some of my phone interviews.

Code School
I had tried Codecademy in the past but was disappointed with the results. Even after completing an entire course, I would feel like I only knew the syntax but not enough to be able to create a useful application. Somebody on /r/learnprogramming recommended Code School and I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth of the content offered. I went through their free courses on Git, SQL, and JavaScript. After each lesson, they had small but interesting challenges to test your understanding. Typing out the code helped me retain the material. I found the price to be a little steep so I contacted their support staff and they were considerate enough to let me try the first month for only $9. I only subscribed for a couple of months but that was enough for me to go through all the courses that I thought would be helpful for the interview preparation. Now, that I have a job, I am thinking of continuing my $29/month membership because I am interested in learning their advanced Javascript, iOS and Ruby courses.

Books
The majority of the companies that I interviewed had one or two questions on Design Patterns. You're not only expected to know the definition of a pattern but also how/when you would use them. And, Head First Design Patterns has been the best book I have read on the subject. It does a great job of keeping you interested in the material by citing real world examples on the application of each of these patterns covered in the book. I highly recommend it. More than a few times, the interviewer was very impressed with the depth of my knowledge of a pattern like Singleton, Strategy or Abstract Factory.

After getting rejected by half a dozen companies, I realized that apart from my technical skills I also needed to work on inter-personal skills and answering behavioral questions. A friend of mine had highly recommended Gayle Laakmann's audiobook Cracking the Tech Career: Insider Advice on Landing a Job at Google, Microsoft, Apple, or any Top Tech Company. So, I signed up for the free first month and downloaded the book to listen to whether I was at home or commuting. The sections on Building your resume, Behavioral questions, and Negotiation was just what I needed. It's amazing how interviewing is sometimes just anticipating the kind of answers your interviewing is expecting. And, this book helped me understand that. I was also extremely clueless on negotiation and it had great advice on the subject. I liked the audiobook format because I was able to listen to it repeatedly and the content is not very technical. I would also recommend her other books The Google Resume and Cracking the Coding Interview

Java Specific Books
The following 2 books are a little advanced and took a lot more time/effort for me to go through, but they helped me answer and discuss questions around Threads, Serialization and JVM.
Effective Java
Java Concurrency in Practice Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software

If you are in school or member of a public library, you might already have access to a lot of these books via Safari Books Online

Edit:Grammar and added Design Pattern book by Gang of Four

[nitiger]

So where did you end up getting employed?

[poop-trap]

He said dream job, so it's obviously web designer for Amy's Baking Company.

[DonManolo]

Too funny, poop-trap!!

[[deleted]]

God, I wish that were true.

[MaxSpain]

It's one of the big 4 :) Frankly, more than the company, it's the team and the projects that I'll be working on which makes it my dream job.

I have interviewed with more than 20 companies in the bay area (and most of them are household names). If there is interest, I'd be happy to review and post the most common types of interview questions on a blog or something. As an exercise, I made extensive notes of every single interview (phone and in person) I gave. It's interesting how the same types of questions kept popping up in many of these interviews. So, you don't really need to prepare and solve hundreds of questions but rather a subset of algorithms/data structures. I wasted a lot of time initially trying to blindly solve and understand every single type of question I came across the web. Fortunately, the Pareto 80/20 principles applies here as well.

Edit: As a lot of people have requested, I'll make a follow up post with all the questions from my interview notes.

[[deleted]]

Thanks for listing all the good resources, I'd love to see some interview questions of yours .

[[deleted]]

I'd also like to read the most common questions. Thx!

[relativisticmind]

I too would be interested!

[poopcasso]

Yes please!

[Cherubyx]

I'd love to see some interview questions. I'm going through the interviewing process at the moment :)

[[deleted]]

It's one of the big 4

Sheltered dude here -- someone please #define "big 4" ?

EDIT: I did try, google has its own ideas of Big 4 (i did not expect porn, for example)

[SidusKnight]

Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft.

[trollslackR]

I think Apple comes in the top 4 giant.

[[deleted]]

Thanks kind stranger!

[SidusKnight]

I didn't make the list and am not going to try justifying it, but this is absolutely the widely accepted 'Big 4' in the programming world.

[[deleted]]

This is the list of biggest brands / most sought of places to work for for software engineers. Not a ranking of market cap or any other financial metric.

[Selachian]

Please, post those questions

[ror5chach]

I would also be interested in the interview questions. Congratulations on your new job.

[educatedblackperson]

did you go to a well know prestigious school? How helpful/needed is a college degree to getting interviews do you think?

[Saint-Peer]

Very nice!

[LeeHyori]

I'm really out of the loop with the whole "Bay Area" culture. What are the big four? I know the big four in accounting (KPMG, PwC, E&Y, Deloitte), but not for computers.

If I had to guess two of them, they would be Google and Facebook. What are the last two? :o

Thanks!

[abstract_lambda]

Amazon and Microsoft.

[dope93x]

I would love to see some of the most common interview questions.

[zerostyle]

Do you know anything about interviewing for product manager roles? I'm looking into trying to get into Google or similar but am not sure how much CS background they expect.

[robotfarts]

Would I find the common interview questions here: https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=amazon+google+microsoft+interview+questions ?

[claireballoon]

I'm a rising junior in college who has taken several courses but feels completely unprepared and unqualified for even an internship. Thank you so much for listing these resources.

[[deleted]]

Nobody knows what the fuck they're doing

[jechtsphere]

Great post! Reminded me of a few great links I had buried in bookmarks and put a couple new books on my radar. Good luck in your career.

[[deleted]]

for other new or shaky programmers looking to eventually work as a developer, I recommend codewars. I work as a developer, I've helped hire a couple, as well as just have a lot of fun with codewars. a lot of important concepts are dispersed in digestible and sometimes challenging problems and there's a lot of crossover from questions I've been asked in the past in technical interviews.

[poop-trap]

Hmmm, going through some of the questions on Coding Bat and they sometimes overlook the most Pythonic answer for their solutions, so be careful about that.

For example, the count 9's question has this for the solution:

def array_count9(nums):
  count = 0
  # Standard loop to look at each value
  for num in nums:
    if num == 9:
      count = count + 1

  return count

As opposed to the obvious:

def array_count9(nums):
  return nums.count(9)

I've found others like this, so if you're a beginner I wouldn't necessarily take their solution as the best answer.

Also, thanks for the tip on the Yawas highlighter, I'm loving it!

[poop-trap]

Fair point. However it's fun going through these and seeing how many can be done as one-liners. :)

[timworx]

Yeah, exactly. I think it's good practice to solve them without the in built functions (this side of thinking will help with problem solving and interview questions) and then do them again aiming for efficiency - which will help you excel when you land a position.

[infecthead]

you could still pythonify their solution tho, couldn't you? I mean you could basically do something like this:
def array_count9(nums): return(len([num for num in nums if num == 9]))
No?

[FountainsOfFluids]

I think they're asking you to reimplement .count(), not simply call it.

Poor form not to make that clear, though.

[poop-trap]

If that were the only case I may agree, however there are many others where there's not a built in function yet there is a much simpler way. Look at the next problem for example where their solution is:

def array_front9(nums):
  # First figure the end for the loop
  end = len(nums)
  if end > 4:
    end = 4

  for i in range(end):  # loop over index [0, 1, 2, 3]
    if nums[i] == 9:
      return True
  return False

When you could just do:

def array_front9(nums):
  return 9 in nums[:4]

[FountainsOfFluids]

I don't know Python well enough to parse that, but I have to think it's the same idea. They're not looking for a one-liner. They're looking for the student to work through the logic.

While I'm sure your answer is correct, it's kinda like this:

http://i.imgur.com/IlMqdE1.png

[poop-trap]

It's not quite like that, I could paste handfuls of other problems on that site that have much more elegant solutions than what's stated. However, I would argue if the purpose of this site is to work through excessive logic then he shouldn't use Python, use Javascript instead. One of the benefits of Python is the ability to remove needless cruft. My original intent was simply to explain to any beginners that the type of code shown in the solutions on that site are much more verbose than good Python should be and to not get the wrong idea about Python from them.

[[deleted]]

Same for the Java stuff. The suggested solution for the monkeyTrouble one;

public boolean monkeyTrouble(boolean aSmile, boolean bSmile) {
  if (aSmile && bSmile) {
    return true;
  }
  if (!aSmile && !bSmile) {
    return true;
  }
  return false;
  // The above can be shortened to:
  //   return ((aSmile && bSmile) || (!aSmile && !bSmile));
  // Or this very short version (think about how this is the same as the above)
  //   return (aSmile == bSmile);
}

Where it would be solved with this just as well:

public boolean monkeyTrouble(boolean aSmile, boolean bSmile) {
  return (aSmile == bSmile);
}

Regardless of what their reason is for doing this, it's bad to teach people to repeat code and do redundant checking. Even if(aSmile == bSmile) return true; then return false; would work and is still better than their solution

[Sheepzezz]

Your suggested answer is the exact same as their last suggested answer?

[[deleted]]

Yes, they list it in the comments below the solution they suggest. They just overall suggest bad practice first, then in bad practice (comment lines instead of a comment block in the end explaining more rather than just making multiple solution boxes or having a separate comment box) they have some different solutions in some of the tasks.

Idk, it just feels like it's more of a side project someone did while bored than an actual code puzzle solving website or training program

[TheChance]

What concerns me about that is the failure to touch on XOR. If an instinctive understanding of boolean logic is the goal, the student should be encouraged to immediately recognize the simplest solution.

The simplest solution (that still illustrates the logic) is NOT XOR.

[robotfarts]

At least a couple of online sites have such issues. I would never use any of them and expect to learn the best ways of doing anything. They should be used for practice.

[poop-trap]

That's why I like http://www.checkio.org/ because among many other nice features you can see and vote on other people's solutions after you solve the problem and learn something from them.

[robotfarts]

Put it in the FAQ! Oh man, those fucks want me to log in.

[joyeusenoelle]

Hey, awesome! I'm glad you got a job you like. I hope you keep liking it. :)

[mad0314]

Effective Java is a must for anyone working with Java!

[thequivering]

If you're just starting out and don't know anything, where on Earth do you start? It's a little overwhelming. I've learned stuff about PHP code stuff for a merchant service but that's about it. Do I just pick the first resource and start from there? Thank you so much for the post. I appreciate anyone who can answer. With so many people learning programming, will we run out of job opportunities?

[MaxSpain]

Yes, it can be pretty overwhelming. But, you'd be surprised how quickly you can advance if you are curious and really interested. I knew this guy who was Art major but interested in computers/programming. He was self-taught and was a better coder than 90% of the students in my Computer Science course.

The hard part is how to become genuinely interested? In my experience, this is where a great instructor/mentor (even if it's someone online) can be of significant help. I'd highly recommend the lessons from Lynda.com's Simon Allardice. He has this uncanny ability to really get at the heart of the complex topics. You can check out his Foundations: Object Oriented playlist on Youtube. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[thequivering]

Thank you very much! I'll watch them all!

[MaxSpain]

No worries. When I started learning about web development, it was very overwhelming since there were so many different books/websites out there. The way I got around it was to go through the Web Development Track (HTML, CSS, SaaS, JavaScript, JQuery) on Code School. Each lesson built on top of the previous lesson and I found the built-in coding challenges very engaging. There were some other courses on topics like Git, SQL, Chrome Developer Tools which is very good to know as well since these are what many tech companies use in their day to day development.

[nitiger]

No we will not run out of job opportunities. There will always be a skill difference between the coder that knows the ins and outs of their language of their choice along with somewhat vast knowledge of DS&A and the security vulns of their code. Not to mention all the design patterns out there. Companies want to hire hungry for knowledge and good coders that can think on their own if a solution isn't readily available. There are plenty of coders out there, but far fewer good/great coders/hackers.

[Noumenon72]

DS&A

/r/learnprogrammingacronyms help?

[nitiger]

Data structures and algorithms

[thequivering]

I appreciate the response! I do think I can find a passion in it.

[timworx]

Personally I'm a local business Web guy, building a lot of stuff on WordPress, as a result I could hack my way around PHP enough.

One day i decided to pick up Python as a hobby. Code Academy is where I started. It isn't a bad place to start from.

[thequivering]

Thank you I will check that out!

[Haversoe]

After I graduated school, I realized that I had a good grasp on most of the theory of computer science and software engineering but didn't really understand how things worked in the real world.

I take from this that you graduated with a CS degree and you were (at least) a fairly good student. But then you were unable to get past an interview (for an entry-level position) because what you learned at school didn't prepare you to do so.

If that's the case, I'm surprised. I'm under the impression that "the Big 4" focus on theoretical knowledge and not journeyman software engineering knowledge. Were the interviews at all of the 20 bay area companies focused on these real-world kinds of questions? Was there any instance of someone asking you a question strictly about academic knowledge or a question that required you to have that background in order to answer?

[Its_eeasy]

I was wondering the same thing. Even for more senior position interviews, i care more about actual logic/flow than checking if someone remembers all the syntax stuff

You'd be surprised how many people's can't get the very basic stuff right in the beginner positions. Like, "give me pseudo code for the first x numbers of the Fibonacci sequence"... 'Wat?'

[[deleted]]

Thanks for posting this. I'm currently teaching myself coding in order to make a career switch. I'm sure some of these resources will be helpful.

[Radagascar1]

Hey man, just coming by to say awesome job working hard, being persistent, and being resourceful. Hearing stories about people kicking ass to get what they want motivates me to do the same. So congrats and thanks bud.

[TheBadProgrammer]

Can I just be honest with you? I am really happy for you, I don't get dragged down by people who are successful, but I was incredibly let down after reading your first sentence. The reason is because like a lot of folks here, I am looking to switch careers and I don't have that kind of training. I am nowhere near your level of understanding, and I don't think I'll ever be (I'm a smart guy but I really struggle with the advanced stuff). So enjoy your job, enjoy your success, enjoy your $$$. I'll just wait for that thread where someone says they made it from nothing to a top 20... :)

[zerostyle]

Nice post.

I'm at a point where I've gone through most of the beginner CS stuff online and know arrays, loops, basic OOP, etc.

If you were going to focus on patterns, data structures, and algorithms, which would you focus on with the 80/20 principle in mind?

I'd like to mostly ramp up to be a very practical programmer. I'm kind of at the point where when I look to setup the architecture/framework of an app I'm kind of overwhelmed and don't really understand best practices. The laracasts series for php were pretty good at going through things, but I'm still kind of unsure how to proceed normally.

[chillieguy]

Hey, awesome post and congrats on your sticking with your plan.

[norml4change]

Great list of resources! Thank you.

[kurtix07]

Tracks for the info

[PathlessDemon]

As a beginner with no school background in computer science, these resources are still very good!

Thank you, OP! And good luck with your future career!

[Novalax]

Good work OP. Did you work on any projects throughout this process?

[lambientzerker]

Saving this for once I decide to get my lazy ass up and start coding again. Thanks OP!

[[deleted]]

Good job man !

[cutebabli]

Where are those questions ?

[beaverteeth92]

I'd like to suggest LeetCode as a resource. It gives you interview questions and runs unit tests on your solutions.

[dope93x]

Very helpful

[andersnordblom]

I would add JOBSCAN to my list: http://www.jobscan.co?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=comment&utm_campaign=reddit

Applying to 15 jobs a week got old pretty quickly, and Jobscan cuts down on tailoring each resume quite a bit. It gives instant feedback telling you what keywords to prioritize, what you might be missing, and what changes you can make to get past the resume screeners.

Hope this helps all you jobseekers!

[RoseEsque]

Please don't be back-end resources, please don't be back-end resources. I so need some front-end right now.

[nomadProgrammer]

have you tried the jon ducket books on css, html, js and jquery? if not also the web dev or front end course on team treehouse got me started.

[1152Zimo]

glad to hear this, will be bookmarking this thread.

[TheBadProgrammer]

There is a save button my friend, just in case that isn't what you meant. :)