Ask HN: Is doing Topcoder to prepare for job interviews a good idea?

3 pointshowon922 comments

I've been doing Cracking the Coding interview problems, and heard from many people that I should do Topcoder as well. Do you think it's a good idea to prepare for job interviews by doing topcoder(SRM)?

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Anything that strengthens your algorithm and implementation skills is a good idea.

SRM matches are unique in the way that forces you to come up with a working implemetation in relatively short time. The problems present there will definitely help you to hasten your thought process.

In addition to this, I suggest you to check coursera's algorithm classes if you haven't already. Besides classic MOOC stuff they have an explicit section named job interview questions. These should help you better your algorithm knowledge.

It depends on the job you're applying. But to say learning how to solve changes your thinking about problems(any problems) and makes you better and faster solver. For just passing job interview you can check Skiena's Algorithms design. That said I highly recommend Topcoder, especially their cookbooks contains valuable information on very rare topics.

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