This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to software engineer for a large company.This is meant for new software engineers or those switching from software/web development to software engineering (where computer science knowledge is required). If you have many years of experience and are claiming many years of software engineering experience, expect a harder interview.

What is it?

<ul><li>Successful software engineers are smart, but many have an insecurity that they aren't smart enough.</li><li>Rich and detailed collection of Data Structures and Algorithms</li><li>Great for first-timers</li></ul>This list grew over many months, and yes, it kind of got out of hand.Here are some mistakes I made so you'll have a better experience.

Before you Get Started

<h1>Coding Interview University</h1><BLOCKQUOTE>I originally created this as a short to-do list of study topics for becoming a software engineer,
but it grew to the large list you see today. After going through this study plan, <a href="https://startupnextdoor.com/ive-been-acquired-by-amazon/?src=ciu" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">I got hired
as a Software Development Engineer at Amazon</a>!
You probably won't have to study as much as I did. Anyway, everything you need is here.I studied about 8-12 hours a day, for several months. This is my story: <a href="https://medium.freecodecamp.org/why-i-studied-full-time-for-8-months-for-a-google-interview-cc662ce9bb13" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">Why I studied full-time for 8 months for a Google interview</a>The items listed here will prepare you well for a technical interview at just about any software company,
including the giants: Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.Best of luck to you!</BLOCKQUOTE><summary>Translations:</summary><summary>Translations in progress:</summary><h2>What is it?</h2>This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to software engineer for a large company.<img src="https://camo.githubusercontent.com/223e9758b09eb2908cb04c01c05f6e8550596dfd1526db5a2895c471b378a538/68747470733a2f2f64336a32706b6d6a74696e366f752e636c6f756466726f6e742e6e65742f636f64696e672d61742d7468652d7768697465626f6172642d73696c69636f6e2d76616c6c65792e706e67" alt="Coding at the whiteboard - from HBO's Silicon Valley" width="483" height="290">This is meant for new software engineers or those switching from
software/web development to software engineering (where computer science knowledge is required). If you have
many years of experience and are claiming many years of software engineering experience, expect a harder interview.If you have many years of software/web development experience, note that large software companies like Google, Amazon,
Facebook and Microsoft view software engineering as different from software/web development, and they require computer science knowledge.If you want to be a reliability engineer or operations engineer, study more from the optional list (networking, security).<h2>Why use it?</h2>When I started this project, I didn't know a stack from a heap, didn't know Big-O anything, anything about trees, or how to
traverse a graph. If I had to code a sorting algorithm, I can tell ya it wouldn't have been very good.
Every data structure I've ever used was built into the language, and I didn't know how they worked
under the hood at all. I've never had to manage memory unless a process I was running would give an "out of
memory" error, and then I'd have to find a workaround. I've used a few multidimensional arrays in my life and
thousands of associative arrays, but I've never created data structures from scratch.It's a long plan. It may take you months. If you are familiar with a lot of this already it will take you a lot less time.<h2>How to use it</h2>Everything below is an outline, and you should tackle the items in order from top to bottom.I'm using GitHub's special markdown flavor, including tasks lists to track progress.Create a new branch so you can check items like this, just put an x in the brackets: [x]<PRE><code>Fork a branch and follow the commands below
</code></PRE>Fork the GitHub repo <a href="https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university" dir="ltr">https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university</a> by clicking on the Fork button<PRE><code>Clone to your local repo
</code></PRE><code>git clone git@github.com:&lt;your_github_username&gt;/coding-interview-university.git</code><code>git checkout -b progress</code><code>git remote add jwasham https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university</code><code>git fetch --all</code><PRE><code>Mark all boxes with X after you completed your changes
</code></PRE><code>git add .</code><code>git commit -m "Marked x"</code><code>git rebase jwasham/main</code><code>git push --set-upstream origin progress</code><code>git push --force</code><h2>Don't feel you aren't smart enough</h2><UL><LI>Successful software engineers are smart, but many have an insecurity that they aren't smart enough.</LI></UL><UL><LI><UL><LI>Rich and detailed collection of Data Structures and Algorithms</LI><LI>Great for first-timers</LI></UL></LI></UL>If you have a better recommendation for C++, please let me know. Looking for a comprehensive resource.OR:<h2>Before you Get Started</h2>This list grew over many months, and yes, it kind of got out of hand.Here are some mistakes I made so you'll have a better experience.<h3>1. You Won't Remember it All</h3>I watched hours of videos and took copious notes, and months later there was much I didn't remember. I spent 3 days going
through my notes and making flashcards, so I could review.Please, read so you won't make my mistakes:A course recommended to me (haven't taken it): <a href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">Learning how to Learn</a>.<h3>2. Use Flashcards</h3>To solve the problem, I made a little flashcards site where I could add flashcards of 2 types: general and code.
Each card has different formatting.I made a mobile-first website, so I could review on my phone and tablet, wherever I am.Make your own for free:Keep in mind I went overboard and have cards covering everything from assembly language and Python trivia to machine learning and statistics. It's way too much for what's required.Note on flashcards: The first time you recognize you know the answer, don't mark it as known. You have to see the
same card and answer it several times correctly before you really know it. Repetition will put that knowledge deeper in
your brain.An alternative to using my flashcard site is <a href="http://ankisrs.net/" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">Anki</a>, which has been recommended to me numerous times. It uses a repetition system to help you remember.
It's user-friendly, available on all platforms and has a cloud sync system. It costs $25 on iOS but is free on other platforms.My flashcard database in Anki format: <a href="https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/25173560" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/25173560</a> (thanks <a href="https://github.com/xiewenya" dir="ltr">@xiewenya</a>).<h3>3. Start doing coding interview questions while you're learning data structures and algorithms</h3>You need to apply what you're learning to solving problems, or you'll forget. I made this mistake. Once you've learned a topic,
and feel comfortable with it, like linked lists, open one of the coding interview books and do a couple of questions regarding
linked lists. Then move on to the next learning topic. Then later, go back and do another linked list problem,
or recursion problem, or whatever. But keep doing problems while you're learning. You're not being hired for knowledge,
but how you apply the knowledge. There are several books and sites I recommend.
See here for more: <a href="https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university#coding-question-practice" dir="ltr">Coding Question Practice</a>.<h3>4. Review, review, review</h3>I keep a set of cheat sheets on ASCII, OSI stack, Big-O notations, and more. I study them when I have some spare time.Take a break from programming problems for a half hour and go through your flashcards.<h3>5. Focus</h3>There are a lot of distractions that can take up valuable time. Focus and concentration are hard. Turn on some music
without lyrics and you'll be able to focus pretty well.<h2>What you won't see covered</h2>These are prevalent technologies but not part of this study plan:<UL><LI>SQL</LI><LI>Javascript</LI><LI>HTML, CSS, and other front-end technologies</LI></UL><h2>The Daily Plan</h2>Some subjects take one day, and some will take multiple days. Some are just learning with nothing to implement.Each day I take one subject from the list below, watch videos about that subject, and write an implementation in:<UL><LI>C - using structs and functions that take a struct * and something else as args</LI><LI>C++ - without using built-in types</LI><LI>C++ - using built-in types, like STL's std::list for a linked list</LI><LI>Python - using built-in types (to keep practicing Python)</LI><LI>and write tests to ensure I'm doing it right, sometimes just using simple assert() statements</LI><LI>You may do Java or something else, this is just my thing</LI></UL>You don't need all these. You need only <a href="https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university#pick-one-language-for-the-interview" dir="ltr">one language for the interview</a>.Why code in all of these?<UL><LI>Practice, practice, practice, until I'm sick of it, and can do it with no problem (some have many edge cases and bookkeeping details to remember)</LI><LI>Work within the raw constraints (allocating/freeing memory without help of garbage collection (except Python or Java))</LI><LI>Make use of built-in types, so I have experience using the built-in tools for real-world use (not going to write my own linked list implementation in production)</LI></UL>I may not have time to do all of these for every subject, but I'll try.You can see my code here:You don't need to memorize the guts of every algorithm.Write code on a whiteboard or paper, not a computer. Test with some sample inputs. Then test it out on a computer.<h2>Algorithmic complexity / Big-O / Asymptotic analysis</h2><UL><LI>Nothing to implement</LI><LI>There are a lot of videos here. Just watch enough until you understand it. You can always come back and review</LI><LI>If some lectures are too mathy, you can jump down to the bottom and watch the discrete mathematics videos to get the background knowledge</LI></UL><h2>Coding Question Practice</h2>Now that you know all the computer science topics above, it's time to practice answering coding problems.Coding question practice is not about memorizing answers to programming problems.Why you need to practice doing programming problems:<UL><LI>Problem recognition, and where the right data structures and algorithms fit in</LI><LI>Gathering requirements for the problem</LI><LI>Talking your way through the problem like you will in the interview</LI><LI>Coding on a whiteboard or paper, not a computer</LI><LI>Coming up with time and space complexity for your solutions</LI><LI>Testing your solutions</LI></UL>There is a great intro for methodical, communicative problem solving in an interview. You'll get this from the programming
interview books, too, but I found this outstanding:
<a href="http://www.hiredintech.com/algorithm-design/" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr">Algorithm design canvas</a>No whiteboard at home? That makes sense. I'm a weirdo and have a big whiteboard. Instead of a whiteboard, pick up a
large drawing pad from an art store. You can sit on the couch and practice. This is my "sofa whiteboard".
I added the pen in the photo for scale. If you use a pen, you'll wish you could erase. Gets messy quick. I use a pencil
and eraser.<img src="https://camo.githubusercontent.com/4b2dfa34fd739404edcc014f89b5432ab1ec9cfebecce1d59b9f7986826d03cf/68747470733a2f2f64336a32706b6d6a74696e366f752e636c6f756466726f6e742e6e65742f6172745f626f6172645f736d5f322e6a7067" alt="my sofa whiteboard" width="483" height="362">Supplemental:<h2>Your Resume</h2><UL><LI>See Resume prep items in Cracking The Coding Interview and back of Programming Interviews Exposed</LI><LI>Very Important thing to remember while creating your resume, if you applying for big companies is that make it ATS Complaint.</LI></UL><h2>Be thinking of for when the interview comes</h2>Think of about 20 interview questions you'll get, along with the lines of the items below. Have 2-3 answers for each.
Have a story, not just data, about something you accomplished.<UL><LI>Why do you want this job?</LI><LI>What's a tough problem you've solved?</LI><LI>Biggest challenges faced?</LI><LI>Best/worst designs seen?</LI><LI>Ideas for improving an existing product</LI><LI>How do you work best, as an individual and as part of a team?</LI><LI>Which of your skills or experiences would be assets in the role and why?</LI><LI>What did you most enjoy at [job x / project y]?</LI><LI>What was the biggest challenge you faced at [job x / project y]?</LI><LI>What was the hardest bug you faced at [job x / project y]?</LI><LI>What did you learn at [job x / project y]?</LI><LI>What would you have done better at [job x / project y]?</LI></UL><h2>Have questions for the interviewer</h2><PRE><code>Some of mine (I already may know answer to but want their opinion or team perspective):
</code></PRE><UL><LI>How large is your team?</LI><LI>What does your dev cycle look like? Do you do waterfall/sprints/agile?</LI><LI>Are rushes to deadlines common? Or is there flexibility?</LI><LI>How are decisions made in your team?</LI><LI>How many meetings do you have per week?</LI><LI>Do you feel your work environment helps you concentrate?</LI><LI>What are you working on?</LI><LI>What do you like about it?</LI><LI>What is the work life like?</LI><LI>How is work/life balance?</LI></UL><h2>Once You've Got The Job</h2>Congratulations!Keep learning.You're never really done.<PRE><code>*****************************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************************

Everything below this point is optional.
By studying these, you'll get greater exposure to more CS concepts, and will be better prepared for
any software engineering job. You'll be a much more well-rounded software engineer.

*****************************************************************************************************
*****************************************************************************************************
</code></PRE><h2>Additional Books</h2><PRE><code>These are here so you can dive into a topic you find interesting.
</code></PRE>

A complete computer science study plan to become a software engineer. - jwasham/coding-interview-university

writing

Reading & Writing

strategy

Strategy

education

Learning & Education

computerscience

Computer Science

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

I originally created this as a short to-do list of study topics for becoming a software engineer, but it grew to the large list you see today. After going through this study plan, <a dir="ltr" href="https://startupnextdoor.com/ive-been-acquired-by-amazon/?src=ciu" rel="nofollow">I got hired as a Software Development Engineer at Amazon </a>! You probably won't have to study as much as I did. Anyway, everything you need is here.

I studied about 8-12 hours a day, for several months. This is my story: <a dir="ltr" href="https://medium.freecodecamp.org/why-i-studied-full-time-for-8-months-for-a-google-interview-cc662ce9bb13" rel="nofollow">Why I studied full-time for 8 months for a Google interview </a>

The items listed here will prepare you well for a technical interview at just about any software company, including the giants: Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.

This is my multi-month study plan for going from web developer (self-taught, no CS degree) to software engineer for a large company.

This is meant for new software engineers or those switching from software/web development to software engineering (where computer science knowledge is required). If you have many years of experience and are claiming many years of software engineering experience, expect a harder interview.

If you have many years of software/web development experience, note that large software companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft view software engineering as different from software/web development, and they require computer science knowledge.

If you want to be a reliability engineer or operations engineer, study more from the optional list (networking, security).

When I started this project, I didn't know a stack from a heap, didn't know Big-O anything, anything about trees, or how to traverse a graph. If I had to code a sorting algorithm, I can tell ya it wouldn't have been very good. Every data structure I've ever used was built into the language, and I didn't know how they worked under the hood at all. I've never had to manage memory unless a process I was running would give an "out of memory" error, and then I'd have to find a workaround. I've used a few multidimensional arrays in my life and thousands of associative arrays, but I've never created data structures from scratch.

It's a long plan. It may take you months. If you are familiar with a lot of this already it will take you a lot less time.

Everything below is an outline, and you should tackle the items in order from top to bottom.

I'm using GitHub's special markdown flavor, including tasks lists to track progress.

Create a new branch so you can check items like this, just put an x in the brackets: [x]

Fork the GitHub repo <a dir="ltr" href="https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university">https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university </a>by clicking on the Fork button

<code>git clone git@github.com:&lt;your_github_username&gt;/coding-interview-university.git </code>

<code>git checkout -b progress </code>

<code>git remote add jwasham https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university </code>

<code>git commit -m "Marked x" </code>

<code>git rebase jwasham/main </code>

<code>git push --set-upstream origin progress </code>

<ul><li>Successful software engineers are smart, but many have an insecurity that they aren't smart enough. </li> </ul>

<ul><li><ul><li>Rich and detailed collection of Data Structures and Algorithms </li><li>Great for first-timers </li> </ul> </li> </ul>

If you have a better recommendation for C++, please let me know. Looking for a comprehensive resource.

This list grew over many months, and yes, it kind of got out of hand.

Here are some mistakes I made so you'll have a better experience.

I watched hours of videos and took copious notes, and months later there was much I didn't remember. I spent 3 days going through my notes and making flashcards, so I could review.

Please, read so you won't make my mistakes:

A course recommended to me (haven't taken it): <a dir="ltr" href="https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn" rel="nofollow">Learning how to Learn </a>.

To solve the problem, I made a little flashcards site where I could add flashcards of 2 types: general and code. Each card has different formatting.

I made a mobile-first website, so I could review on my phone and tablet, wherever I am.

Keep in mind I went overboard and have cards covering everything from assembly language and Python trivia to machine learning and statistics. It's way too much for what's required.

Note on flashcards: The first time you recognize you know the answer, don't mark it as known. You have to see the same card and answer it several times correctly before you really know it. Repetition will put that knowledge deeper in your brain.

An alternative to using my flashcard site is <a dir="ltr" href="http://ankisrs.net/" rel="nofollow">Anki </a>, which has been recommended to me numerous times. It uses a repetition system to help you remember. It's user-friendly, available on all platforms and has a cloud sync system. It costs $25 on iOS but is free on other platforms.

My flashcard database in Anki format: <a dir="ltr" href="https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/25173560" rel="nofollow">https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/25173560 </a>(thanks <a dir="ltr" href="https://github.com/xiewenya">@xiewenya </a>).

3. Start doing coding interview questions while you're learning data structures and algorithms

You need to apply what you're learning to solving problems, or you'll forget. I made this mistake. Once you've learned a topic, and feel comfortable with it, like linked lists, open one of the coding interview books and do a couple of questions regarding linked lists. Then move on to the next learning topic. Then later, go back and do another linked list problem, or recursion problem, or whatever. But keep doing problems while you're learning. You're not being hired for knowledge, but how you apply the knowledge. There are several books and sites I recommend. See here for more: <a dir="ltr" href="https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university#coding-question-practice">Coding Question Practice </a>.

I keep a set of cheat sheets on ASCII, OSI stack, Big-O notations, and more. I study them when I have some spare time.

Take a break from programming problems for a half hour and go through your flashcards.

There are a lot of distractions that can take up valuable time. Focus and concentration are hard. Turn on some music without lyrics and you'll be able to focus pretty well.

These are prevalent technologies but not part of this study plan:

<ul><li>SQL </li><li>Javascript </li><li>HTML, CSS, and other front-end technologies </li> </ul>

Some subjects take one day, and some will take multiple days. Some are just learning with nothing to implement.

Each day I take one subject from the list below, watch videos about that subject, and write an implementation in:

<ul><li>C - using structs and functions that take a struct * and something else as args </li><li>C++ - without using built-in types </li><li>C++ - using built-in types, like STL's std::list for a linked list </li><li>Python - using built-in types (to keep practicing Python) </li><li>and write tests to ensure I'm doing it right, sometimes just using simple assert() statements </li><li>You may do Java or something else, this is just my thing </li> </ul>

You don't need all these. You need only <a dir="ltr" href="https://github.com/jwasham/coding-interview-university#pick-one-language-for-the-interview">one language for the interview </a>.

<ul><li>Practice, practice, practice, until I'm sick of it, and can do it with no problem (some have many edge cases and bookkeeping details to remember) </li><li>Work within the raw constraints (allocating/freeing memory without help of garbage collection (except Python or Java)) </li><li>Make use of built-in types, so I have experience using the built-in tools for real-world use (not going to write my own linked list implementation in production) </li> </ul>

I may not have time to do all of these for every subject, but I'll try.

You don't need to memorize the guts of every algorithm.

Write code on a whiteboard or paper, not a computer. Test with some sample inputs. Then test it out on a computer.

Algorithmic complexity / Big-O / Asymptotic analysis

<ul><li>Nothing to implement </li><li>There are a lot of videos here. Just watch enough until you understand it. You can always come back and review </li><li>If some lectures are too mathy, you can jump down to the bottom and watch the discrete mathematics videos to get the background knowledge </li> </ul>

Now that you know all the computer science topics above, it's time to practice answering coding problems.

Coding question practice is not about memorizing answers to programming problems.

Why you need to practice doing programming problems:

<ul><li>Problem recognition, and where the right data structures and algorithms fit in </li><li>Gathering requirements for the problem </li><li>Talking your way through the problem like you will in the interview </li><li>Coding on a whiteboard or paper, not a computer </li><li>Coming up with time and space complexity for your solutions </li><li>Testing your solutions </li> </ul>

There is a great intro for methodical, communicative problem solving in an interview. You'll get this from the programming interview books, too, but I found this outstanding: <a dir="ltr" href="http://www.hiredintech.com/algorithm-design/" rel="nofollow">Algorithm design canvas </a>

No whiteboard at home? That makes sense. I'm a weirdo and have a big whiteboard. Instead of a whiteboard, pick up a large drawing pad from an art store. You can sit on the couch and practice. This is my "sofa whiteboard". I added the pen in the photo for scale. If you use a pen, you'll wish you could erase. Gets messy quick. I use a pencil and eraser.

<ul><li>See Resume prep items in Cracking The Coding Interview and back of Programming Interviews Exposed </li><li>Very Important thing to remember while creating your resume, if you applying for big companies is that make it ATS Complaint. </li> </ul>

Be thinking of for when the interview comes

Think of about 20 interview questions you'll get, along with the lines of the items below. Have 2-3 answers for each. Have a story, not just data, about something you accomplished.

<ul><li>Why do you want this job? </li><li>What's a tough problem you've solved? </li><li>Biggest challenges faced? </li><li>Best/worst designs seen? </li><li>Ideas for improving an existing product </li><li>How do you work best, as an individual and as part of a team? </li><li>Which of your skills or experiences would be assets in the role and why? </li><li>What did you most enjoy at [job x / project y]? </li><li>What was the biggest challenge you faced at [job x / project y]? </li><li>What was the hardest bug you faced at [job x / project y]? </li><li>What did you learn at [job x / project y]? </li><li>What would you have done better at [job x / project y]? </li> </ul>

<ul><li>How large is your team? </li><li>What does your dev cycle look like? Do you do waterfall/sprints/agile? </li><li>Are rushes to deadlines common? Or is there flexibility? </li><li>How are decisions made in your team? </li><li>How many meetings do you have per week? </li><li>Do you feel your work environment helps you concentrate? </li><li>What are you working on? </li><li>What do you like about it? </li><li>What is the work life like? </li><li>How is work/life balance? </li> </ul>

jwasham/coding-interview-university

What is it?

Before you Get Started

Related collections

Other curated ideas on this topic: