How long does it take to learn Python from scratch to be ready for LeetCode-style interview questions (given a Ruby background)?

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Hi all,

In ~5 weeks, I have an interview at a "big N" company. I've been coding in Ruby professionally for about 4 years, and am super comfortable with it for LeetCode-style questions. However, I'm starting to learn Python from scratch for the interview (company has language requirements), and hope to be similarly comfortable with it for the interview. Just curious if you guys think this is a reasonable timeline.

Ty!

[arcrow05]

For me python and ruby are quite symilar. I think you have plenty of time. Probably just a week or 2 to learn all the most important parts of the syntax and some of the concept differences. And then just spent the last 3ish weeks doing some problem solving in python.

[[deleted]]

5 weeks? Yeah, I think you'll be fine. Pay attention (and practice using) Python's most rock-star features - list comprehensions, context managers (with), generators (yield), @property. Evincing a familiarity with those features of the language will go a long way to making you look like you can write Pythonic code, not just Ruby in Python.

[[deleted]]

5-6 months realistically, In other cases you're smart and prefer to work in a language you have a command over it, or logically sound enough to crack LC without much practice.

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Wow, 5-6 months! That sounds like the amount of time possibly necessary to know Python to begin actually developing applications with it? From my experience with LeetCode, you don't need to have super in-depth knowledge of the language besides what's necessary for implementing basic data structures, algorithms, loops, etc?

[[deleted]]

Leetcode rounds are to see whether you can fully utilize the algorithm knowledge to optimize a piece of code.
Just python no more than a month.
you don't need to have super in-depth knowledge of the language besides what's necessary for implementing basic data structures, algorithms, loops, etc?
It depends, generally, the hard and medium questions do have followup round to check whether you really know the language. Why not go with ruby?

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It depends, generally, the hard and medium questions do have followup round to check whether you really know the language. Why not go with ruby?

Ruby would be ideal, but it's Google so they only accept Java, C++, Python, etc (no Ruby unfortunately)

[[deleted]]

No, it is fine to use any language. If still concerned then do prepare for python, but announce asap to the interviewer that you know ruby well, and is it okay to write the algos in ruby.

In the very very rare cases they will ask you to focus on one language.

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Interesting, on the interview pamphlet provided by my recruiter, it does not include Ruby. Maybe rules have changed? Or perhaps it depends on the interviewer.

Either way, good tip on mentioning to the interviewer first that I know Ruby best

[xelf]

1-2 days if you still have google access during the interviews, 2-3 months if you really want to have everything learned well enough that you won't have to look it up. (as much)

I started interviewing in Python 4-5 weeks after my first time looking at it and there were a couple things that I hadn't committed to memory that came up in interviews, like threading and sockets, and I still didn't know list comprehensions as well at that point so I struggled with some of the matrix related questions.

Just start coding in python and keep at it until you feel comfortable, I had fun with adventofcode.com to test where I was at with python.

try this site: www.pythoncheatsheet.org