CS373 Fall 2018: Kevin Wang (Week 2)

Kevin Wang
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read

What did you do this past week?

Compared to the first week of classes, I felt like I had a much better grasp on all my tasks for this past week. I finally got started with the intensive task of preparing for technical interviews by refreshing up on data structures and rereading a couple chapters of Cracking the Coding Interview. I am also taking CS 331 Algorithms and Complexity this semester and we were just recently assigned our first homework problem set and the TAs recommended using LaTeX for formatting the homework so I have been trying to get accustomed to using LaTeX this week as well.

What’s in your way?

Currently, I feel like I am less prepared for technical interviews this year than I was last fall because it has been over a year since I was in Mike Scott’s CS 314 class, which I felt really helped me land my internship last fall. I also feel slightly overwhelmed by the amount of homework and projects that I have been assigned that are all due within the next two weeks in addition to a couple of interviews that I have scheduled during the same time frame, so I will have to make sure that I manage my time wisely in the coming weeks.

What will you do next week?

Next week will be a pretty busy one for me since I have projects and assignments that I will need to do for three of my classes and then additionally, I also have textbook reading that I need to catch up on for the Business Law class that I am currently enrolled in.

What’s your experience of the class? (this question will vary, week to week)

So far, I have had a pretty good experience of this class. I feel like the things that I have learned already are very applicable to the software engineering workflow in the current industry. I also appreciate that Professor Downing has provided us with a general workflow for working on projects.

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My pick for this week is the book Cracking the Coding Interview by Gaele Laakmann McDowell. I’m sure many of you have heard of it but if you haven’t, it is a pretty thick book that is meant to help the reader improve on his/her chances of doing well in coding interviews and it includes advice for coding interviews, review material for crucial topics such as data structures, and almost 200 practice interview questions. I bought this book about a year ago and I found that it was helped me land an internship this past summer and I would recommend it to anyone who is trying to land a software engineering job or internship. And even if you aren’t currently recruiting, I feel like it would be a nice addition to one’s book collection so that every 6 months or so, you can flip through it to brush up on your interviewing skills.

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