7 Best Places to Practice Coding Problems and Learn Data Structures and Algorithms for Interviews
These are the best online platforms, websites and best places where you can learn Data Structure and Algorithms and Practice Coding problems for interviews.
Hello guys, if you are preparing for Coding Interviews and looking for best websites and online platforms to practice coding problems and learn data structure and algorithms then you have come to the right place.
Earlier, I have shared best books and online courses for coding interview preparation and in this article, I am going to share best online platforms, websites and places to hone your coding skill for interviews.
If you have done research then you might know that there are a number of free online resources to practice important topics for coding Interviews like data structure and algorithms, database and SQL, and others.
These websites are equally useful for both, new programmers who are just learning the fundamentals and for experienced ones who are brushing up their coding skills for interviews. I have been sharing useful resources for programming and technical interviews for a long time in this book.
In the past, I have shared some recommended online courses and books for coding interviews, as well as some of the frequently asked programming interview questions from tech companies (see here). But, my readers have been asking about some recommended websites for practicing programming challenges and coding interview questions.
So, in this article, I am going to share some of the best websites which will help you to practice Coding Interview questions for free. Some of them also have their paid version and a couple of them are also used by companies for screening candidates so you will get first-hand experience of what to expect on real coding interviews.
These websites are not just useful for anyone who is preparing for a coding interview, but also for any programmer who seriously wants to improve their coding skill, which is the most important skill for a programmer.
These websites will help you to improve both your coding sense and problem-solving skills. Alternatively, If you like books and courses, you can also see this list of books and courses to improve your coding skills.
Programming interviews have always been criticized for their theoretical nature, I mean anyone who knows a little bit of coding can get a job by just mugging some of the frequently asked coding interviews, like an anagram, string permutations, or linked list questions, but that is now the thing of past.
Just like to get a driving license, you need to pass both a theoretical test and a practical drive, many companies are now moving to a similar model where they will test both your theoretical knowledge and practical coding skills before they offer you a job.
This growing trend has made these resources even more sought after. I am a member of all of the websites I have shared here, solved a couple of problems, and still go there whenever I have some free time, particularly the LeetCode and HackerRank
7 Best Websites to Prepare for Data Structure, Algorithms, and Coding Interview Questions
Here is my list of some of the best websites which will help you to prepare for coding interviews. They are free and contain a lot of questions and offer different kinds of experiences. There are many others but I feel these five are more than enough. If you can even solve all the problems on the first website you have a very good chance of doing well on any coding interview.
1. Udemy
This is one of the best websites to find programming interview preparation courses at affordable prices. Udemy is actually the best website for online learning because of their unique pricing option which allows you to buy a quality course with $200 for just $10 and that’s why it is also the first website I go to get any resource for programming or coding interviews.
Udemy has the best online courses for coding interviews covering a wide variety of topics like Data Structure and Algorithms, System Design, SQL and Database Design, Programming language like Python, and much more.
They also have specialized courses to prepare for FAANG interviews, I mean to prepare for big tech interviews like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.
If you are looking for the best coding interview courses, I suggest you check out the following courses on Udemy.
- Pragmatic System Design
- Master the Coding Interview: Big Tech (FAANG) Interviews
- Data Structures and Algorithms: Deep Dive Using Java
These are a few top courses from Udemy you can join to start your preparation for coding and programming interviews.
2. Educative
When it comes to preparing for coding interviews or programming job interviews like Frontend and backend development, Educative is one of the best platforms.
It has many text-based interactive courses to prepare different topics of coding interviews like System Design, Dynamic Programming, Object-Oriented Programming, Multithreading and Concurrency, Data Structure, and Algorithms, and much more.
Here are some of my recommended courses for people preparing for Coding interviews from the Educative.io platform:
- Grokking the System Design Interview
- Grokking the Coding Interview: Patterns for Coding Questions
- Grokking the Object-Oriented Design Interview
- Grokking Dynamic Programming Patterns for Coding Interviews
- Java Multithreading for Senior Engineering Interviews
- Data Structures in Java: An Interview Refresher
You can either buy these courses individually for preparing a specific topic or go for an Educative subscription which costs around $18 per month and gives access to all of their 100+ software engineering courses. I personally recommend Educative membership because it is both cost-effective as well as an easy way to learn on the platform.
3. DesignGuru
DesignGuru is another place to prepare for Coding interviews. It has got the best collection of coding interview courses for Software Engineers to prepare for Coding interviews.
If you have been taking online courses then you may have come across courses like Grokking the System Design Course or Grokking the Coding Interview Courses, well these are the courses which have been created by Arslan Ahmad and available DesignGuru.
I have been taking their courses on Educative.io like Grokking Coding interview patterns, dynamic programming patterns etc but now that they have moved out from that platform and it create their own online platform, it make sense to join them for just their Grokking interview courses.
If you are also preparing for coding interviews then you can join DesignGuru to get access of not just their System Design courses but also many other coding interview courses
They even offer a bundle of all courses where you can buy all of their courses for big discount. If you want to excel on coding interview and prepare well, I highly recommend to get this bundle, its really useful.
Here is the link to join DesignGuru — Join DeisignGuru
4. Algo monster
This is another useful resource to prepare for a coding interview that I come across recently. This website is specially created to prepare and get succeed in FAANG interviews.
It doesn’t teach you how to solve a particular coding problem but how to find the underlying pattern which can then be used to solve many more coding problems.
Apart from reading one of these books, you can also join Algomoster to get a boost to your coding interview preparation. You will learn the most important patterns and get results in the shortest amount of time possible.
It contains more than 48 Coding Patterns, meticulously Curated by Google Engineers, and more than 325 Lessons and Problems, 678 Illustrations along with Object-Oriented Design and System Design questions to make yourself completely ready for your next coding interview.
You can subscribe to Algomonster now for just $99 (69% discount) and give your interview preparation a new edge. Here is also a nice diagram from Algomoster which tells what patterns you should learn for your coding interview.
5. ByteByteGo by Alex Yu
System design is another thing you need to master to crack Coding interview and ByteByteGo is another amazing platform to learn about System design concepts and also prepare for System Design Interview.
This website is created by Alex Yu, author of popular System Design Interview — An insider’s guide books, one of the most recommend books for System Design interview. This website also serves as the digital version of his book but it offers much more than that. ‘
I first come across this site on Twitter when I saw one of Alex Tweet about HTTPS working. Since then I love Alex content and found that Alex has shared detailed, step by step framework to solve system design questions from interviews like How to design YouTube and How to design a chat system.
He also regular share interesting content on System Design which are quite useful to learn about essential System design concepts like scaling, caching and distribute messaging.
If you are preparing for coding interview then I highly recommend you to checkout this website and join his course.
Here is the link to join this course — 10% discount on ByteByteGo
6. LeetCode
LeetCode is a platform for preparing technical coding interviews. Pick from an expanding library of more than 450 questions, code, and submit your solution to see if you have solved it correctly. It is that easy!
This platform currently supports a total of 11 languages: C, C++, Java, Python, C#, JavaScript, Ruby, Swift, Go, Bash, MySQL. So, doesn’t matter if you are a C++ developer or Java programmer, you can benefit from it.
You will find all kinds of different interview questions divided into four major categories like Algorithms, Database, and Shell Scripts. The Algorithms contain interview questions on the array, linked list, string, binary tree, graph, and others.
The Database section contains SQL query-based problems like writing SQL queries to find the second highest salary or Nth highest salary etc.
7. HackerRank
The HackerRank Community is one of the largest learning and competition communities for programmers. HackerRank for Work is the leading end-to-end technical recruiting platform for hiring engineers. HackerRank is also very addictive, once you start, you will likely spend hours solving coding problems.
More than 1 Million programmers are part of HackerRank which speaks volumes about the value it provides to programmers who want to prepare for coding interviews and improve their coding and problem-solving skills. Many tech companies also use HackerRank for arranging screening and written tests for candidates.
Btw, if you are one who loves books and wants to improve your algorithm and data structure skills, then you can also choose a good algorithm book from this list
8. CodeFights
CodeFighting is the best way to hone your programming skills by challenging friends and other programmers to head-to-head battles. When you create your account you will choose the programming language you’d like to use on CodeFights and then you will have your first fight with a robot, interesting, isn’t it?
The CodeFights website tests how well can you code? It tests your skills against friends, co-workers, and companies. Some tech companies also use the services of this website for screening candidates based on their coding skills.
9. Interview Cake
The Interview Cake claims to teach you the right way of thinking to break down tricky algorithmic coding interview questions you’ve never seen before, something you will be likely asked by tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
No prior computer science training is necessary — I’ll get you up to speed quickly, skipping all the overly academic stuff.
This site also provides interview questions by companies like you will find questions asked by Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon. It also provides questions for different programming languages like Java, Python, SQL, Ruby, JavaScript, and Testing and QA Interview Questions.
10. Pramp
Pramp is another good website that allows you to practice coding interviews for free. Join thousands of developers who already use Pramp to ace their coding interviews. I really like their unique style which allows you to practice coding Interviews in pairs, particularly their Mock interview.
Pramp is also part of Exponent, another great website for coding interviews, especial for FAANG companies.
There Complete Software Engineering Interview Course is one of the most comprehensive course to prepare for Coding and Software engineering interviews in 2024. It comes with 1000+ questions, coding problems and behavioral questions for FAANG or MAANG companies.
with Pramp, you can just tell when and what you want to practice and they’ll pair you with an optimal peer. They provide interview questions (and answers) which both of you will use to interview each other.
Coding interviews are live video sessions with a collaborative code editor. You and your peers interview one another for 30 minutes each. After the interview, you both rate the other’s performance.
This is seriously good because it gives you the chance to learn from peers’ feedback, gain confidence, and master the art of interviewing. Keep practicing until you interview like a rock star. Impress recruiters and land awesome job offers.
5 Best Books and Courses for Coding interviews
If you like books, here are some of the best ones which will help you to do well in coding interviews:
- Cracking The Coding Interview By Gayle McDowell
- Mastering the System Design Interview by Frank Kane (Ex Amazon Hiring Manager)
- Data Structures and Algorithms: Deep Dive Using Java
- Programming Interview Exposed By Wrox
- Decode the Coding Interview in Java: Real-World Examples
These are a couple of the tired and tested books and online courses for programming job interview and I highly recommend them to all the programmers, both beginners and intermediate developers.
That’s all about some of the best websites to prepare coding, or programming, or technical interviews for development and support Jobs. CodeFights is like HackerRank and is also used by some companies for screening candidates before face-to-face interviews.
Interview Cake is a freemium service for practicing data structures and algorithms through self-study. It will send you daily emails posing a challenge for you to code, solve, and submit the solution.
Pramp is a free service for practicing technical interviews by pairing up engineers who interview one another online.
These websites will not only help you to perform better in a real interview but will also help you to become a better programmer by improving your coding skills and think-through ability. Even if you are not preparing for a coding interview, you can use these websites to check your coding skills and improve them.
Other Programming and Interview Articles you may like
- Top 5 Courses to learn System Design for interviews
- Top 5 Courses to learn Dynamic Programming for Coding Interviews
- 5 Free Courses to Learn Data Structures and Algorithms
- 20+ String Algorithms Interview Questions
- 10 Books to Prepare Technical Programming/Coding Job Interviews
- 10 Courses to Prepare for Programming Job Interviews
- Top 5 Data Structure and Algorithm Books for Java Developers
- Review these Java Interview Questions for Programmers
- 20+ array-based Problems for interviews
- 10 Algorithms Courses Junior Developer should join
- Top 30 Object-Oriented Programming Questions
- Top 5 Courses to learn Dynamic Programming for Interviews
- 10 Best Courses to learn System Design for Interviews
- 7 Best Courses to learn Data Structure and Algorithms
- 25 Software Design Interview Questions for Programmers
- 50 SQL and Database Interview Questions with Answers
- 5 Courses to Learn Kotlin Programming for Java developers
- 100+ Coding Problems to Crack your Coding Interview
Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these websites, online platforms and courses to prepare well for programming job interviews, then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.
P. S. — If you are serious about getting into FAANG companies and want to leave no store unturned then I also suggest you to join Master the Coding Interview: Big Tech (FAANG) Interview on ZTM Academy by Andrei Negaoie, this is one of the best resource to prepare for FAANG interviews. You can also use code friends10 to get 10% discount.
