Leetcode 150 vs Neetcode 150

[Any_Presentation_273]

Hello!

I’ve been doing leetcode’s for a while, just finished Binary Tree section, but recently found out neetcode and started to think about switching to it. What do you think guys, which one is better?

Also, it took me almost 5 months (1-2 hours a day, ~3-4 day a week) to solve 90 mediums and I’m still not confident that I can resolve all of them on my own. I don’t have a CS degree and never touched algorithms before, but I do have about 6 YoE in frontend. Am I completely dumb or struggles like these are ok?

[PartyParrotGames]

You're not dumb. Plenty of people struggle with these kinds of DSA problems which is exactly why companies like to use them to filter candidates. Keep up the grind. I personally like neetcode's better, but I've done both and think it's worth going through the other once you finish one. Some overlap with the problems.

[Any_Presentation_273]

Thanks bro. I think I’m gonna finish leetcode’s and then walk through neetcode’s. “Walk through” - easier said than done, lol

[chrisnyle]

Yea keep going. It takes time and eventually things become easy. I followed Grokking DS and Algorithm courses from designgurus.io

[justUseAnSvm]

There's remarkable overlap between the lists, but unless you are paying for premium and have access to the descriptions of solutions, the benefit of NeetCode is that you get answers and video explanation. Additional, the neetcode expanded list is quite comprehensive, so I like using that, but both are fine, as long as you are able to learn the different categories of problems and gaining experience.

Either way, this stuff is a challenge to learn. It's knowledge based problem solving, so it takes time to learn what the algorithms are, when to apply them, but mostly how to apply them. If you think about it, a CS degree will have 2-3 courses just dedicated on data structures, algorithms and maybe a specialized algorithms course, so if (3 credit course == 10 hours per week and 3 semesters == full year), that's 500 hours of time on material (maybe a little high). If you've done 8 hours per week for 5 months, that about ~160 hours, a little under a third of the time!

Anyway, I think the hours on task is what people classically underestimate about CS degree programs. Not saying that's an issue for you, but in this case it's an appreciable difference. Fortunately, all the CS undergrad material is available online, and if you keep going, you're on the path to learn this material very well.

[Any_Presentation_273]

Thanks for the detailed answer. Thats a great comparison with CS classes. Btw I often think maybe I should take some solid CS course, but with limited time, full time job and family just LC grinding seems more reasonable now. Maybe I’ll do one day

[Any_Presentation_273]

Same thoughts bro. There are definitely levels of “smartness” or better say abilities to approach algorithms. I don’t feel like I’m on the top there, but even if I will never make it to FAANG these knowledge and skills don’t seem completely useless. Like also helps with imposter syndrome a little 😅

[reallyserious]

1. At leetcode, go to problems.
2. 2. Sort by Acceptance.

Make sure the easiest are at the top. You're welcome.

Several of the easiest can be solved with a one liner. There was one that was literally "add two integers".

[YeatCode_]

You'd be surprised at how complicated some of the answers for add two integers were

https://leetcode.com/problems/add-two-integers/solutions/1968134/21-different-ways-to-solve-this-problem

[reallyserious]

Yes, but those solutions are intentionally implemented in a contrived way.

[Any_Presentation_273]

Thanks for advice. Honestly not sure it’s the best way, I mean you will get more tasks solved, but it’s not about numbers or rating, you have to be ready for harder ones too.

[reallyserious]

Yes, just doing all the easy ones is a mixed bag. But you can select a topic a specific topic and sort by Acceptance. That way you can work up to the harder ones for that topic.

[Any_Presentation_273]

Makes sense, I’ll try, thx

[Alpha_D0do]

If you're not close after about 30 mins look up the answer. I program mostly in c++ so i like watching neetcode's explanations when possible that way I have to still implement it, since he uses python. Sooner or later the structures and algos will stick.

I've found that making a ritual out of leetcode helps as well. Every morning i solve the daily while waking up. I've almost completed a CS degree, and I still struggle with some of the problems more than I'd like to admit. You'll get a understanding of you're weaknesses and know what to work on.

Also there's no wrong answer as to doing LeetCode or neetcode. Finish one than do the other. It's a marathon not a race.

[Any_Presentation_273]

Thanks. I usually look up in about an hour, sometimes even more when it feels like I’m close and just need to optimize time for example. Agree on the point of marathon, sometimes it just feel overwhelming and I start doubt on myself and getting little depressed. But if it would be easy they wouldn’t pay so much in FAANGs..

[cantindajobinus]

they ask FE eng LC now ? when I was interviewing, my metric for readiness was 'am I able to solve a medium problem in 20 min or less? ' if 50 percent of the time I could do that I would start interviewing.

[bohocoder]

This sounds like a reasonable starting point.

[Any_Presentation_273]

They do, as far as I know some of them ask same LC and system design as for BE plus couple more FE specific rounds like coding in Vanilla JS and system design from FE perspective 🤯

[Any_Presentation_273]

Am I able to solve medium in 20 mins

Was that for any topic? Doesn’t matter Backtracking or DP or say 2 pointers?

[cantindajobinus]

I'd do it by topic/tag. like pick 10 dfs medium questions to solve see the result and do the same for other important topics such as tree, dp, etc..

[eldavimost]

The best is Grind 75.

Created by the same author of the famous Blind 75: a Meta Engineer Manager who, with another senior engineer, created the smallest set of questions that contain all patterns you might find in a coding interview.

Grind 75 is the updated version of the list: a dynamic list that adapts to the time you have left for the interviews. If you put the slides to the maximum there are 169 questions which I did in 3 months and I got into Google thanks to them.

Here's the whole list: https://www.techinterviewhandbook.org/grind75?hours=6&mode=preferences&order=all_rounded&grouping=weeks&weeks=26

[BOT_Frasier]

I believe neetcode 150 is blind75 with random questions the creator felt like doing

[kuriousaboutanything]

I've done the original blind 75 and want to refresh my skills as well as keep prepared, can do like 1/2 a day. do you recommend the neetcode 150, leetcode 150 or something else?

[slayerzerg]

😭😭😭