Ask HN: Better Way to Practice Leetcode?

1 pointsjosephrmartinez1y ago4 comments

Do you have a method for practicing leetcode that you think is somehow... better? Or useful? Or interesting?

I find the gamification of the leetcode website distracting and not helpful. The solutions space seems noisy and crowded with influencer types.

I saw a presentation recently from a developer who made Anki cards for their leetcode problems. That gave them a better way to focus on actually practicing and reviewing the problems instead of optimizing for a "daily streak" or finishing as many problems as possible.

I've started working on problems in my IDE and writing my own tests at the same time. Curious if other people have found ways to improve their leetcode practice experience.

4 comments

uejfiweun1y ago

In my experience most technical interviews were done on whiteboards. Therefore, the best way for me to practice leetcode was to write out the solutions by hand, just like you would in an interview. It forces you to think ahead about the problem.

My strategy was to do 2-3 problems per day on pen and paper, and spend a maximum of 1 hour on each problem. Then, after that hour, check to make sure I got the optimal solution, and if I didn't, then also copy that optimal solution down onto the paper, so it gets burned into my brain.

This strategy, applied over a long timeframe, was extremely successful for me.

mouse_1y ago

If you don't like gamification, the standard way is reading books and documentation, solving their practice problems, and taking notes on their solutions. Apply them to different scenarios. There is no easy way out, just gotta get cracking.

josephrmartinezOP1y ago

Not looking for an easy way out, ha! More curious about ways to actually be more diligent with the practice so that I am actually learning and retaining the knowledge. Curious about what other people have done to take learning into their own hands. Making the problems into Anki cards seems like one approach. I appreciate the note in the other comment though that writing the problems out by hand is possibly more reflective of how you may encounter the problem in an interview setting. Getting too comfortable with my IDE could be a detriment....

marssaxman1y ago

I have never been able to distinguish a "leetcode problem" from an ordinary technical interview, so I have never done anything special to prepare for them. This seems to work out fine.

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