My Brain after 569 Leetcode Problems

In this video I wanted to share every single thing I learned from solving and explaining hundreds of leetcode problems.

Second channel: @NeetCodeIO

#coding #neetcode #leetcode

[NeetCode]

Been a long ass time since I uploaded on this channel, I know. Even though I've been uploading on the second channel, I missed you guys over here. 😭

[junas]

I will leave one little story here, as it relates to this video. If you are someone that feels like you are not smart enough to succeed, then this story is for you.

I was one of the worst students back in my middle school. I remember being the only one not able to understand stuff in math class that basically everyone understood. The teacher even pulled me aside to talk to me. Failing lots of tests, from multiple subjects... even though I studied a decent amount of time... Eventually, I realized I needed to increase my intelligence. This is different from getting good grades. This is about increasing your comprehension, creativity and brainpower. I thought that math problems, not those from school, were the path. So I started at them. I started easy, getting the easiest math olympiad problems I could find. Some are really easy, but even those took me lots of time reading the solutions to understand.

But eventually, these started to actually become understandable to me... so I started ramping up the difficulty... I spent hours and hours everyday solving these problems, and eventually reached IMO level (International Mathematical Olympiad - though I did not make it to the actual team, I was selected as one of the potential participants, but basically everyone on the team selection tests were at least bronze level). I also became one of the top students from my country, and also a National Math and Informatics Olympic medalist. I studied for free at the top school, by getting the highest markings on the scholarship competition. It took a few years of daily study, but patience is a huge monster skill to have. Your brain just takes time to build itself. You wouldn't think of rushing a broken arm, right?

Afterwards I got scouted by a top investment bank... at their best trading desk. Got the top score on their logic test by a mile. But this is getting out of topic.

What I want to teach with this story of mine is that even if you are not too smart now, you can become a top tier intellectual being by sheer effort, unless maybe if you have a special condition. But in general, if you do this, solve lots of math problems, ramping up difficulty until you reach international level, you WILL become a supreme genius. Every one of the math champions that I met worked very hard to reach that level. All of them entered top schools, top jobs, etc.

It really is a matter of putting in the hours... I did maybe 2 or 3 hours of math solving everyday, some days on vacation from school I did 4, 6 or 10 hours... It is a lot of work, but I guess most of the great rewards come from hard, grueling work. And mind you, I was in middle/high school.

Some practical tips: get easy problems first, and try to learn one per day until you get the habit. Note that I used "learn" instead of "solve". Focus on raising your understanding, not on immediately being a top solver. Try all your obvious ideas first, and if that does not work, than start a timer for 15 minutes. Think for 15 minutes, searching for new ideas. Then read part of the solution, and try to finish the rest. Keep doing it until you get the entire solution.
Also, try to understand how you could have reached that solution. How did the guy who solved it think about such an esoteric idea? You need to ponder these kinds of things, to increase your intuition. Sketch a lot. You need pen and paper. Read how the top math champions came to be and read their tips.

Hope this helps someone, and also that I did not come off as arrogant. It is hard to talk about these experiences without causing the impression of "showing off" or something like that. But I also believe it may help someone. I for sure would have liked to read these words back in the day. Would have sped up my progress.

If you feel you do not have a future, please believe that you can have a great life. I know it seems hopeless sometimes, but our comprehension gets limited when attacked by extreme stress and sadness. Work hard, have patience, it takes a few years, but if you put in the effort on the right things, you will most probably achieve "success". Though by then your definition of success will probably be different.

Edited for typos.

[jaredchester]

Dude, the quiz idea for reviewing is brilliant. That is probably the best feature of this site. Well done and thanks for all your work.

[Akerlynas]

I solved 100+ problems. Now I can easily spot CIA agents glowing in the dark.

[Andrewburtnett]

You are a literal legend, and will go down in the history books as being more directly responsible for people getting their dream jobs than any other programming channel. I salute you sir 🫡

[aadityakiran_s]

I'm at 100 problems. What you're saying right now is really resonating with me. I used to feel the same way, hopeless and wanting to quit when I started and couldn't solve even easy questions, now easy questions are pretty okay for me. I hope the road gets easier just like you mentioned here. Thanks for this video. This is exactly what I needed.

[QsPracticalNonsense]

Unbelievable. I have never had such a short video change my outlook on something so dramatically. You earned my immediate like and sub, keep doing what you are doing!!!

[hunk]

Thank you so much for this video 😭. Started doing the leetcode 150 about two weeks ago and im glad i got some tips about how to get throught it. Definitely going to be referring to these links and channel in thr future 🤙

[wtcxdm]

Always love to see your video. Thank you for the commitment and sharing!

[TaDe]

Thank you so much for your work! You made my interview preparation process so organized and even hard problems easy to come up with.
And btw the newly added quiz idea is brilliant!

[shamsshaikh]

You explain things so well that I forget how much work you put in to get where you are today. This kind of videos reminds me of that. Thank you.

[sharokhkeshawarz]

I needed this video so bad, your just a living legend for us ! Love you!

[dakshkant]

So elated to see that you got a sponsor! I remember back in early 2022 when I started watching your explanations and being blown away by how easy you made them seem. Thank you for everything that you've done for our community :)

[austinperrine]

I found your neetcode site about 8 months ago, and it has been the most inspirational and direction-giving thing I have come across in leet code prep. Thanks a ton!

[shuvbhowmickbestin]

Thanks a lot Navdeep for the website. I still can't believe the practice section is free of cost, the fast reviews are literally what ed-tech websites charge money for, I've faced almost similar quizzes in interviews and thanks to you I'm motivated to finish DSA/Leetcode otherwise I might've given up on it. Thanks for being so generous for the community may god bless you with more gifts in life. You deserve everything you've got and are still getting man.

[qfrvchd]

Great effort to create a review section for the questions. Massive respect.. This guy is an absolute legend for sharing these “real” tips .

[akshaydusad]

Got into leetcode programming a while back and started doubting my programming skills but I feel so much better after watching this video

[faizaankhan]

Great effort to create a review section for the questions. Massive respect.

[giannizamora]

Thanks again neetcode! I’ve been using your map layout and once I started going with the flow again I understood where my weaknesses were.

[siddarthsaha]

Thanks alot for contributing! I switched to C++ but I stull use your videos to understand the concept! They are really helpful