AlgoExpert Review (How I Got My Google Offer)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2024
- So I drank the Kool-Aid and got AlgoExpert. After a bunch of studying I got an offer from Google for a Software Engineer position. Of course, things aren't as simple as that, so I put together this video to break down my thoughts. You can learn more about AlgoExpert at www.algoexpert.io !
CHECK OUT HOW I BECAME A SWE WITH NO DEGREE:
• Becoming a Software En...
Sections:
0:00 - Intro
0:58 - Interview Process
4:30 - AlgoExpert Review
6:36 - Alternatives
7:55 - Final Thoughts
Looking for Opportunities
Kwanil Kim
/ kwanilkim
Noteworthy Channels:
Clément Mihailescu
/ @clem
Jeff H Sipe
/ @jeffhsipepi
SJ Tech
/ @sjsj - บันเทิง
I just got recommended this video on TH-cam 😂This is so awesome! Huge congrats on landing the job at Google, and I'm really glad that you found AlgoExpert so helpful! 💪🔥
P.S. Yeah, Google will sometimes invite a candidate to do additional interviews. From what I know, this usually happens when one or two interviewers say that they didn't get enough signal. Perhaps the interviews didn't go very well, but the feedback was likely more along the lines of "we didn't get enough positive signal" -- *not* "we got signal that this candidate was bad." All that to say, great job! 😎
Thanks for your + tim's + team's hard work on AlgoExpert! Rock on 🤠
This just happened to me; I interviewed with Google two weeks ago. I think I got 3 yes and 2 no...because they want me to do two additional interviews next week.
UPDATE: I got rejected
@@msmit152 unlucky, sure you'll get through tho
@@technologykid7041 Thanks, I work at Microsoft now
Great video, Jake, and congratulations on your offer! Your video was very insightful, I saved it to watch again later, it's going to be a while before I'm ready to jump in and start job hunting, but videos like yours remind me of what I am working towards. Thanks again, sir.
Hey Jake, Really insightful walkthrough of your process. It really inspired me (and man do I need it). Can't wait to see more videos from you in the future!
Great review! Thanks for posting!
This was an awesome video! I have an interview with Google towards the end of October and I was debating on purchasing AlgoExpert. I'm definitely going to purchase it now being that it was so helpful for your study process! Congrats on getting into Google!
Yeah if you're in a time-crunch its not a bad idea. Otherwise feel free to use whatever study method works best for you 🤠
How do u get an interview at google?
@@fauzankidwai5121 google.com
@@jakemarquez3118 Haha.. IQ 200%
Clement is an amazing teacher. I could listen to the guy for hours. The other guy Tim, not so much. His tone and way of explaining are like the many leetcode solvers in youtube.
At least you know your preference!
That intro killed me lol Good stuff
This was really helpful, thank you
Congrats Jake! Besides Algo/DS questions, were there a lot of domain specific questions? I'm going to be interviewing for the entry level front end engineering position and was wondering how much I also need to prepare for that part as well. Any info helps, thanks!
Generally they use the term 'Software Engineer' which encompasses a lot of positions, I would be surprised if they interview you specifically as a front end engineer. Expect the standard interview you would get as a Software Engineer, with very little front end domain knowledge. If you contact your hiring manager, they can provide you with more specific details on the interview and study materials. Good luck!
Nice video, and congratulation on your job offer.
Thank you!
Great video!
Thanks for the awesome content, and congrats! Were Algoexpert and the algorithms design manual the only resources you used for the most part or did you also regularly solve LeetCode questions, etc. as well?
I also watched TH-cam videos covering the type of soft-skill questions they might ask, in the video description you will see a link to Jeff H Sipe and SJ Tech who have some helpful advice for that stuff. You can also check out my latest video with interview tips I had in reflection after getting hired.
For the most part I used AlgoExpert and the algorithms design manual. I occasionally used outside resources I found through google for language specific implementations of data structures, for example if I wanted to see Dijkstra's algorithm implemented with Javascript, I'd have to google that.
did you complete all the questions before you landed your job at google? if not ? how many questions do you recommend for each section to go through if the interview is really near
Hi Jake, would you say that it is enough just to do the easy and medium questions for the most part, even for coding interviews at companies like FAANG?
Can you go over your study schedule? I am really interested!
Hello Jake, I bought Algo Expert and I am little confused where to start. Do I need to start the data structure videos first and then start with solving the questions or vice versa... can you show some thoughts over here
bro how did u get the offer and from where like what u did that u got offer?
Hi Jake , appreciate the insight that you provided. I got a question if you don’t mind. The question that Google ask in the interviews, are they formulated in a leetcode style format or algoexpert like format?
FANG interview questions are given in a style similar to both LeetCode and AlgoExpert. But remember you will not be able to use intellisense, autocomplete, or compile your code.
@@jakemarquez3118 Awesome, appreciate your feedback!
My first ds interview's 2 weeks away. Without a cs degree, my knowledge on algorithm & data structure's pretty weak.. This convinced me to try algoexpert. I'm cramming my ass off. .thanks.
If you are new to algorithms & data structures, definitely pick up a book or a find a basics class you can take as the AlgoExpert only reviews the basics. Good luck!
Hey, so how did it go?
Did you get some help going through AlgoExpert?
Hey Jake, did you not forget the approach for some of the problems in AlgoExpert?
I keep forgetting the optimal approach after 2-3 weeks for a hard question. Any suggestions?
Oh yea, that will happen 😥
It doesn't hurt to go back over solutions to difficult questions the day after you solve them. I often would watch the walkthrough for a complicated solution, implement it myself, and then review it again the next day to see if I still remembered the approach. Over time you will learn the tools and approaches most helpful for different question types as opposed to an exact solution to a specific question.
Thanks
I remember Algoexpert with a sentence , "Do you want to be a software engineer at Google"?.😌😌
Would you compare the questions from google to the easy, medium, hard, or very hard questions on AlgoExpert? NICE VIDEO. This response would really help me out
I would say medium and hard questions. The majority of the questions I have seen are similar to hard, but occasionally you will get an easy/medium question that is expanded in to a second part to make it more difficult.
Awesome motivating video! How long did you spend on each question ? If you were stuck on a question how did you approach it ? Did you look at the solution right away ? Did you struggle for 1 hour before seeing the solution ? Did you read and get more understanding on the topic ? Also did you try to do similar questions to learn the pattern ?
I spent at most 40 minutes on each question. After that I would skip to the solution video. I would try and choose questions I had never seen before or that used topics I was unfamiliar with if possible. Re-watch 05:30 for more context on my approach.
@@jakemarquez3118 thank you so much for prompt response !
Just one more question : I am terrible at graphs and dynamic programming. I don’t know these concepts. How did you approach these topics and solving questions pertaining to them ?
I can stare at the question for whole day and still won’t be able to solve. Just wanted to know if I can still learn these topics by looking at video solutions of algoexpert ?
@@jeezradz Yes, do not stare at the question for hours, go to the solution. Dynamic programming especially is a approach to solving problems not a single algorithm. If it is hard for you, working through many examples/solutions will be better than spending all your time to solve one problem. I will try and talk about this in my next video.
@@jakemarquez3118 Thank you for the tips! Looking forward to your next video!
Did you have any programming background before this
coming here after Clement post :)
welcome!
@@jakemarquez3118 congrats on your Google offer too :)
Hey
Thanks so much
I have been following you since you created your channel
I had been teaching myself for two years
And been working as backend engineer for 4 months but really my goal is to get into big company.
I currently updated my resume and LinkedIn to apply for a leap program at Microsoft at the end of September 2022 and would love to start preparing for technical interview
I only have two months to prepare and could dedicate 3 to 4 hours each day and 8 hours each day on the weekend the weekend
Please
I am overwhelmed and really need your help on what is best way to prepare .
Should I use books , videos or ??
Remember , i have no foundation of algo and datastructure.
I heard that leap program range technical question is between easy and medium to pass .
At the end of the leap , you need to really prepare to get into Microsoft
I would appreciate your feedback and for sure would give you feedback.
Have a wonderful day
My I ask where you learned the OS - stuff (threads, processes, locks ,...) ? Can't find anything on algoexpert
Fantastic question. OS stuff is not a poplar topic that comes up in general SE FANG interviews to my understanding and that is most likely why it has no representation on AlgoExpert. That being said, I have interviewed for a DevOps position at Microsoft and they had an interview dedicated to miscellaneous questions involving anything from memory leaks to thread management. So I guess consider the position you are interviewing for and study appropriately - hope that's helpful.
Awesome man congrats!! I have my first round google technical coming up and got algoexpert. What would you say the first round algoexpert difficulty be and topics?
Check out this video - th-cam.com/video/QwffMOqHrfg/w-d-xo.html - at the 2:22 mark!
@@jakemarquez3118 aweosme, so even the first interview you’d considered on Hard? Also bought that book you recommended. I got 5 weeks so hopefully I can cram all that knowledge
@@enrico8730 yep, it will be hard. Good Luck!
@@jakemarquez3118 would you recommend a schedule like this if you had that time?
Week 0: Data structure and Big O review
Week 1: Arrays/Strings and Linked Lists
Week 2: Graphs And Trees
Week 3: Dynamic Programming and Recursion
Week 4: Stack/Queue and Heaps, Greedy
Personally, I would recommend touching those subjects once a week instead of spending a full week on them. Monday can be strings and arrays, Tuesday can be dynamic programming and recursion, so on and so on. That's just my 2 cents though.
Eventhough Algoexpert has curated content, Leetcode has questions specific to a company and more categories ( by topic and difficulty ) right. Is leetcode not better for quick preparations too?
I believe to target your questions by company you need to have premium Leetcode membership. AlgoExpert also filtering by topic / difficulty. AlgoExpert has less questions which I think is beneficial if you are on limited time to study. But to each their own, choose the product that makes the most sense for you.
@@jakemarquez3118 thanks for the response. I got leet code premium and it has this new feature of interview preparation specific to company. I'm going through it now. Let's see. More than actually giving precise content for each company it's that comfort of narrowing down to specific questions ( wheather they are right or wrong) is what I like about curated content. Atleast it will get me started. Will keep you posted how successful it turned out to be.
Hey can you share the materials google sent you for the preparation of the interviews?
Check out techdevguide.withgoogle.com,
This is the most official interview prep you can get for Google
Should I focus on "Very Hard" questions of AlgoExpert?
Hard & Very Hard
Really liked the video! Hope someday my day will come too
is python a viable option for the coding interview?
You can use any language you'd like. Python is very popular so you should have no problem getting interviewers who are experienced in it.
What sections and difficulties do you recommend for AlgoExpert? Mostly on med and hard? is very hard worth the time or just a waste of time? Thanks!
I would suggest focusing on medium and hard questions. The majority of the questions I have seen are similar to hard level. Occasionally you will get an easy/medium question that is expanded in to a second part to make it more difficult.
Did you do all the problems on AlgoExpert or did you do a few under each difficulty level?
Some under each difficulty!
It’s posible for u to send the material google sends to you?
They only provided me an email with links in it, check out techdevguide.withgoogle.com,
it's the most official interview prep you can get for Google.
Hello, I am still in College pursuing a Computer Science Degree and I am really interested to work in FANG companies. However I have no idea on how to go about it. Can you share some insight on the matter?
P.S- I am from a south Asian country.
Yes, please watch this video th-cam.com/video/YJZCUhxNCv8/w-d-xo.html
Can you share the timelines for your hiring?
Throughout the video, date stamps are displayed on the bottom right of the screen - to summarize though it took me about 6 weeks total.
How many problems did you do before your interviews?
62
Did you use JavaScript ?
Yes. If you do an interview like this and want to use Javascript make sure you tell them that very clearly. I went through the majority of my first interview before my interviewer told me he DID NOT use Javascript. Needless to say he didn't understand any of the syntactical things I was discussing. I complained about this to the Hiring Manager and the second time around I got someone who specialized in Javascript and the interview went great.
@@jakemarquez3118 This is great intel.
Thank you for sharing, would love for you to get a better microphone now that you are going to be making the big bucks!
Thank you, I will work to improve the audio quality
Does learning these things stick? I mean does it make you a better programmer you think?
In my experience, understanding data structures and algorithms is typically the most critical when you are doing system design. System design is usually done by a lead / senior though, or if you are doing it there is a review process with a team around you. This is why it's kind of odd for it to be part of your interview process.
That being said, regardless if you learn it through studying or on the job experience it is a necessary skill set for you to be able to advance as a software engineer.
What role was this for at Google?
Software Engineer!
Which programming language did you use?
Short answer - Javascript - more information here th-cam.com/video/QwffMOqHrfg/w-d-xo.html
@@jakemarquez3118 thank you very much, great video! My last question is, is it hard to do heap related question with JavaScript since JavaScript does not have a built in heap like python/Java do? How did you handle heap questions
@@crymeloanthony9403 just implement your own
Make more videos
400 pages in 2 weeks!
I tried to read for an hour or two a day. It is a textbook, so there are included pages for practice problems and recaps so maybe only 250 pages had actual content to them.
If I purchase algoexpert and studied well , will be a chance for me to get a job as junior software engineer and I'm 45 years old??? I even look for remote job to work from home
Age doesn't matter. As long as you study, with AlgoExpert or LeetCode or another platform and take it seriously you should be fine.
@@jakemarquez3118 thank you sir
you are reading the script with algo-expert video in the background.... Big hell NO to algo-expert
Fraud