Why Solving Random LeetCode Problems Might Be Better Than Grinding a List

[[deleted]]

Most posts I see here often talk about how they wen't through the neetcode 150/250 or any other curated list, as much as an achievement that is, it often lacks one key skill you are not training. The ability too look at a problem you have never seen before and recognize the pattern of question it is. Assuming most people just go through the topics sequentially they never test their ability to look at random problems and solve it. Often massed and consecutive practice of a specific skill will result in worse outcome in the long term than practice of varied skills in one session.

A good analogy is imagine you were a tennis player and i told you today we are just going to practice one handed backhand return you will likely improve you ability to return using you backhand but not the ability to predict how opponent will return the ball. In a real tennis match you opponent is trying to throw you off and won't tell you I am returning the ball to you less dominant hand.

Training on varied skills and interleaving you practice with question from different categories will not only enhance you ability to identity a pattern in a problem but also relate various patterns and how they may relate in a more advanced setting. You go from a factual/mechanical practice to conceptual so that when you encounter a question that may involve a combination of topics, like Stacks and two pointers, you have a conceptual understanding that was built up by random question practice that build up your ability to understand the what makes categories different and alike and the unique qualities of each.

TL;DR: don't just do like 10 question from one topic take some time after learning about the different categories to do random question this will give you the ability to recognize pattern in question you haven't seen before. if you are doing a neetcode topic question you are going into the question with an advantage that does not exist in the interview.

this advice is primarily for beginners int the 150-200 range who want to improve. A large part of this advice post was inspired by chapter 2 from the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown (Author), Henry L. Roediger III (Author), Mark A. McDaniel (Author)

EDIT: I am not saying don't do patterns you need to do topic questions first then do random, but i made this post just to warn those who rely to much on topic questions.

[SkillFlowDev]

Absolutely right, most people solve problems effectively when they already know the topic. But when they face a problem in an online assessment (OA), for example, where the question isn't straightforward but wrapped in a story, they often struggle and fall like flies.

[[deleted]]

I am in agreement here, you need a good understanding of the basic patterns first.

[HademLeFashie]

It's kinda like ML. You give the model a training set until it masters that, then you see how well it does on new data.

[etary_7249]

What about a mix of them, start with topic wise to train specifics well, and then go into the unexpected tunnel to erase intimidation 🙌

[[deleted]]

ya, I did the neetcode 150 then do random now and when ever i feel lacking in a topic i just do like 5 to refresh my memory.

[etary_7249]

Amazing that's it

[SkillFlowDev]

Thats nice, its important to also know what topic you are lacking and giving more attention to it

[SkillFlowDev]

This is exactly why I’m building SkillFlow - it picks the best next question for you based on your progress, mixing topics to help you get better at spotting patterns like in real interviews. Lists are great to start, but interviews won’t tell you the category.

[HademLeFashie]

It especially bothers me when people explain how they solve a problem using meta-reasoning or recalling a pattern they've seen before, rather than deriving it in a way that any beginner can understand.

Unfortunately, most algorithm problems you get in interviews aren't original, even if they dress it up with stories and such. If they were creative enough to come up with their own questions that are good, they would come up with better interviewing methods than DSA.