Ruby Interview with a Microsoft engineer

Feedback about Gustatory Pumpkin (the interviewee)

Advance this person to the next round?

No

**Target Level:** L63 SRE Min moves to spread rocks evenly in grid https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-moves-to-spread-stones-over-grid/description/ - Overall clear communication, easy to follow and understand - Good line of questioning, excellent clarification questions. - Good clarification on the possibility of extension. - Be careful how long you spend on the clarification section. At min 10, we were still clarifying. You can use shorter hand documentation like a couple of words instead of entire sentences. - Propose a high level solution first before starting to solve, possibly discussing the complexities too. - The core goal would be to flash out a solution. Insider tip, starting with a less optimal solution and optimizing it usually bodes better than immediately proposing an optimal solution. - Good job identifying that not having enough stones is the way to identify when when cannot solve the problem. - Saying O(n) for the complexity can be very confusing. In our case, the exact complexity would be O(l*w) where l is the length and w is the width of the matrix. Defining n as this value would render the count correctly. Be sure to be specific about what your complexity analysis is built upon. Key note, in our case, as our grid is of a constant size, our complexity for the sum is technically constant but since we have to compute it, O(l*w) would be a safer analysis. - Good job generalizing how the manhattan distance would be useful for distance evaluation. - We could do better with implementation and going through traditional, go to techniques for some of these questions. - It will be worth reviewing core permutations especially as their analysis can get messy. **Self Study General Prep Spreadsheet (Mainly algorithms but also system design)** Software Engineer Study Guide https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19vhVZ18LAvZTtKWn-cuJzto3AMpJ1npYK4vDWppDnrQ/edit?usp=sharing Coding Interviews starter questions # Starter Questions Technical interviews can be daunting, but preparing beforehand can help you feel more confident. One effective way to prepare is to familiarize yourself with common patterns of technical interview questions. Here are some examples: ## Pattern 1: Arrays Here are some additional examples for the Arrays pattern: 1. Search in Rotated Sorted Array - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min 2. Jump Game - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min 3. Merge Intervals - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min ## Pattern 2: Linked Lists 1. Reverse Linked List - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 25 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/reverse-linked-list/) 2. Linked List Cycle - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/linked-list-cycle/) 3. Merge Two Sorted Lists - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/merge-two-sorted-lists/) 4. Palindrome Linked List - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/palindrome-linked-list/) 5. Intersection of Two Linked Lists - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/intersection-of-two-linked-lists/) ## Pattern 3: Strings Here are some additional examples to replace the easy ones with more challenging ones: 1. Reverse Words in a String - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/reverse-words-in-a-string/) 2. Group Shifted Strings - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/group-shifted-strings/) 3. Longest Substring with At Least K Repeating Characters - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-with-at-least-k-repeating-characters/) 4. String Compression - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/string-compression/) 5. Palindromic Substrings - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/palindromic-substrings/) ## Pattern 4: Trees 1. Path Sum III - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/path-sum-iii/) 2. Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/construct-binary-tree-from-preorder-and-inorder-traversal/) 3. Binary Tree Zigzag Level Order Traversal - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/binary-tree-zigzag-level-order-traversal/) 4. Subtree of Another Tree - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/subtree-of-another-tree/) 5. Diameter of Binary Tree - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/diameter-of-binary-tree/) ## Pattern 5: Dynamic Programming 1. Longest Palindromic Substring - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-palindromic-substring/) 2. Maximum Subarray - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-subarray/) 3. House Robber II - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/house-robber-ii/) 4. Counting Bits - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/counting-bits/) 5. Longest Increasing Path in a Matrix - Difficulty: Hard, Estimated Time: 90 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-increasing-path-in-a-matrix/) ## Pattern 6: Hash Tables 1. Top K Frequent Elements - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/top-k-frequent-elements/) 2. Intersection of Two Arrays II - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 25 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/intersection-of-two-arrays-ii/) 3. Longest Substring with At Most Two Distinct Characters - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-substring-with-at-most-two-distinct-characters/) 4. Minimum Window Substring - Difficulty: Hard, Estimated Time: 90 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-window-substring/) 5. Group Anagrams - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/group-anagrams/) ## Pattern 7: Binary Search 1. Find Peak Element - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/find-peak-element/) 2. Search a 2D Matrix - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/search-a-2d-matrix/) 3. Kth Smallest Element in a Sorted Matrix - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/kth-smallest-element-in-a-sorted-matrix/) 4. Search in a Sorted Array of Unknown Size - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/search-in-a-sorted-array-of-unknown-size/) 5. Median of Two Sorted Arrays - Difficulty: Hard, Estimated Time: 90 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/median-of-two-sorted-arrays/) ## Pattern 8: Graphs 1. Minimum Knight Moves - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-knight-moves/) 2. Cheapest Flights Within K Stops - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/cheapest-flights-within-k-stops/) 3. Course Schedule - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/course-schedule/) 4. Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/number-of-connected-components-in-an-undirected-graph/) 5. Word Ladder - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/word-ladder/) ## Backtracking 1. Letter Combinations of a Phone Number - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min 2. Subsets - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min 3. Permutations - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min 4. Combination Sum - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min 5. Word Search - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min ## Depth First Search (DFS) 1. Number of Islands - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min 2. Surrounded Regions - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min 3. Max Area of Island - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min 4. Pacific Atlantic Water Flow - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min 5. All Paths From Source to Target - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min ## Breadth First Search (BFS) 1. Surrounded Regions - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min 2. Clone Graph - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min 3. Shortest Path in a Binary Matrix - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min 4. Walls and Gates - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min 5. Course Schedule II - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min ## Greedy Algorithms 1. Jump Game II - Difficulty: Hard, Estimated Time: 90 min 2. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 25 min 3. Task Scheduler - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 50 min 4. Minimum Number of Arrows to Burst Balloons - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min 5. Jump Game - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min ### Recursion 1. Fibonacci Number - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 20 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/fibonacci-number/) 2. Climbing Stairs - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 20 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/climbing-stairs/) 3. Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum - Difficulty: Hard, Estimated Time: 90 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/binary-tree-maximum-path-sum/) 4. Unique Paths III - Difficulty: Hard, Estimated Time: 60 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/unique-paths-iii/) 5. Combination Sum III - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 35 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/combination-sum-iii/) ### Dynamic Programming 1. Longest Increasing Subsequence - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 45 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/longest-increasing-subsequence/) 2. Unique Paths - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 30 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/unique-paths/) 3. Coin Change - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/coin-change/) 4. Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock - Difficulty: Easy, Estimated Time: 25 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/best-time-to-buy-and-sell-stock/) 5. Word Break - Difficulty: Medium, Estimated Time: 40 min - [Link](https://leetcode.com/problems/word-break/)

Feedback about The Legendary Avenger (the interviewer)

Would you want to work with this person?

Yes

Give the interviewee a few more moments to work through hurdles before offering assistance.