How I Got Good at Algorithms and Data Structures

Preparing For Your Coding Interviews? Use These Resources
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#coding #programming #softwareengineering

[michelkazi]

Nick, I have an insane amount of respect for you and the work you do on your channel. I dropped out of college after studying computer science for 3 years - I couldn't afford it anymore. I went through a coding bootcamp with my fees waived through an opportunity program. I still felt incompetent when it came to any sort of interview question.
I was initially struggling with easy LeetCode problems and I feared I just wasn't cut out for software engineering until I watched your channel. You made it look easy and fun and eventually I got around to reviewing my data structures, reading cracking the coding interview, being able to solve easy and medium questions. Most importantly, I landed a software engineering internship.
Thanks for being a paramount figure in my professional journey. I wish you the best.

[lekamma]

Thank you man ! I come from Architecture background (switching professions) and found it really hard to get a roadmap on WHAT to learn because of all the content online and no mentors. Great content. Much respect.

[danield.]

I see those multivitamins. Good - stay healthy

[bradleylopez]

This is the most important video YouTube has ever recommended me... I’m currently in a boot camp and they do go over data structures, but you definitely do need to dive deeper into algorithms and time complexities on your own in order to land a job in my opinion. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully I can fill the gap with the resources you shared.

[joegelay]

Thank you, Nick! I've been looking for a video just like this that goes into the how-to and resources and not just "things to know". Beautifully put together. Thanks, again.

[TheFootballPlaya]

I know why I was recommended this, but i'm late to the party. You're so right on the fundamentals part. Super important. I've done some lc questions on strings & arrays and I've practiced identifying how to improve time complexity, using things like memoization. But, every time i'd try to just "jump in" to linked lists, I would feel instantly overwhelmed and lost. Eventually, I realized that I needed to actually understand these structures from the most basic point before I continued into more LC questions. Going slow has been a huge help in understanding what's going on, and now, though I can't solve a bunch of LC questions yet - looking at the problems make more sense. I'll get there at some point. Linked lists are also one of those structures, where coincidentally, they chain to other data structure concepts so much that hopping over linked lists and dipping into trees / graphs - also won't make much sense. Before that, pointers are also a must. Going slow on both of those has been helpful. Another great tool to understanding has been discrete mathematics. Relations and orders and hasse diagrams, are clearing the cluttered unstructured thoughts I had earlier about seeing graph pictures associated with algorithms on the internet. I used to think, 'how in the world can CODE look like that?'. But now it makes more sense. In addition, your videos have been super helpful too. So, thanks for the great content and helping me prepare.

[pierreardouin]

Many good advices here. Learning OOP alone can be too theoritical, learning data structures alone can be too theoritical, learning them together is a good way to appropriate both. But it can be a bit intimidating if the first classes you create are for linked lists, trees, etc, so before that, I suggest practicing OOP on more funny projects i.e. small games and apps.

[ebentee]

This YouTube algorithm has a funny sense of humor

[eduardstefan]

I understand that algorithms are important for a job interview but have you ever had the opportunity to use what you learned in a real project whether it was a job or a side project?

[vbs]

Great video! I plan to binge all your videos during this quarantine time period

[eddiedemeira]

Hey Nick,
I came across your Youtube channel randomly suggested by the platform itself. I have to tell you, I got into your channel and started looking around on the other videos you have and I decided to write this comment to you because I think your channel is one of the best channels I've seen so far.
It's instructive, helpful and straight to the point. I am getting ready to create my own channel but time is luxury I don't have right now, but it's in the to-do list. I am also a programmer and I've been around for about 35 years, yes... I am a dinosaur.... LOL...
One thing I learned along the road is that there always will be critics (their job is to criticize, right?!) and this is fine and necessary because it keeps your foot on the ground but what I want to say to you is that you work is very important to others that may not voice their opinion for whatever reason. So, I came here to say: you channel helps, your opinions are mostly based on common sense and unusually mature for a guy of your age. Then, no matter what people say or how much some of them criticize, you should know that THERE ARE some people out there that appreciate the information you share and for one I would like to say thank you for giving us the opportunity to pick your brain a bit and evolve a little more in our journey through life.
cheers man and keep up the good work :)
PS: just so you know, I just subscribed to your channel and some of your videos (particularly this one) are on my list of favorites.

[shnerdz]

the princeton algo course is very good as well; they have very interesting assignments

[RandomNoob]

Like many individuals here, I was really discouraged after seeing that I could not even solve an easy Leet Code algorithm. I was actually pretty down but I knew that I could become good somehow if I just keep trying. Of course, keeping up the trying eventually becomes a bit hopeless and I ended up here. All I can say is that this not only helped tremendously on what I needed to master but also the motivation to become a master. Thank you, I hope the best for you.

[charlliemurphy]

" talk to your friends..." (you lost me)

[passportbro]

Damn your channel just randomly popped up as im taking datastructures and algorithms seriously in the coming weeks and this is gold. Subbed

[justaguy]

Great video, liking/commenting to boost you on the algorithm.

[codearabawy]

Thank you, Nick! that was really helpful. I will try preamp, I didn't know about it, I already have scheduled an interview at 2 PM this Saturday! :)

[wilhelmsarasalo]

I've never studied any of it, but I've pretty much come up with all of it just to solve everyday programming challenges. I think there is no substitute to "seeing it" in your "mind's eye". This way you can modify it when needed.
For example, in the 1980's I was doing an application in UCSD p-System running on a 68000 based machine. It was to support Point of Sale. Regular going to the hard drive after each compare did not work as it was much too slow. First key on the binary index was a string. So I made a memory resident abbreviated table that would get us pretty deep into the binary tree before needing to go to the hard drive.
Then I left this running with diagnostics using random data each night when I went home. Those needed to stay in synch after all. Then I had this "bushifier" that kept the binary tree balanced using a fast single pointer swap at a time, running at a lower priority than the actual user facing stuff (search, add, delete).
I guess I could develop that further to give an option for weights, to have something (like frequently searched) search quicker.
Anyway I think that memorizing it is no substitute to "seeing it", personally and I think this would work for many, I think about these thigs as I am falling asleep. Then I have dreams about them. Using what you just "saw", came up with, to solve a real life problem, I find very motivating.

[theDarkness]

Wow, great videos bud. I've been studying for some weeks and was felling a little lost on this topic. Thank you for placing all resources you've used in this video. It really helps.

[squirtlesquadblastoise]

how i got into algorithms and data structures: classes forced them down my throat.