I solve DSA on LeetCode only. I have been doing a lot of DSA lately, mostly questions from Linked List, Arrays, and I make sure I see if I can do the potd or not.
Recently, I tried CodeForces,and I failed on the 1st test case. I was very demotivated, so I asked a friend how he does it. He told me I should solve the CP-31 sheet. Here is the link if you are also stuck at Codeforces. From today I will start doing it as well!!
Imagine this-
You're trying to learn how to drive a car. You open YouTube, start watching driving tutorials. Or maybe that's too unrealistic. A more relatable version - You watch someone do it in front of you. You go like - "Haan Haan I get it. I'll do it now".
But the moment you sit in the driver's seat - the car stops, jerks, stalls. You panic! Where's the clutch, where's the brake? It's all so confusing.
That's exactly what was happening with me. Watched YouTube videos or my professor solving questions. Copied them and felt like now i know it all. But when it came to solve questions on my own - failed miserably!
It all changed when i got myself to solve more and watch less. I failed, but now i had a clearer idea of what worked, what mistakes i could learn from. Then when i watched…
The most important data structures for technical interviews include arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs, hash tables, and tries. Mastering these is crucial as they form the foundation of many algorithms and are frequently used in coding challenges and interview questions.
While learning DSA, I’ve realized that how you approach problems matters even more than just solving a lot of them. These are a few mindset shifts I’ve picked up — mostly from mistakes I kept repeating 😅
Here’s what I’ve learned not to do:
Rushing to code before understanding the problem - Now, I slow down. First read? Just to get the idea. Second read? To catch the hidden edge cases and constraints.
Skipping examples- Visualizing the example inputs (like 1→2→4 etc.) gives surprising clarity. It helps me see what’s really happening.
Avoiding brute force out of fear- I’ve started asking, “What’s the simplest, even dumbest, way to solve this?” It often unlocks the pattern I need later.
Trying to hold the whole problem in my head- I now break it into tiny, testable steps. Print/debug early. You don’t need to solve everything in one go.
How do you guys think through a problem from the moment you read it? Like what do you notice first?
do you visualize examples?
do you jump into brute force or wait?
how do you break it down without panicking? Genuinely trying to build a better approach I usually get stuck somewhere between “i kinda understand it” and “okay wait what am i doing” 😅 Drop your thought process. I would love to learn how others solve smarter, not just harder!
Here's an example question - they call it easy!
My process starts by slowing down on purpose. I read the problem once for the big picture, then again with a highlighter mindset — looking for constraints, edge cases, and tricky wording. I rely heavily on the examples given; visualizing them like little animations helps me figure out what the problem really wants. Instead of jumping straight to brute force, I ask, “What’s the most basic way this could work?” — it gets me moving. From there, I break the logic into small, testable steps. And if I get stuck, I take a step back and ask myself, “Which part do I understand so far?” That usually helps me think more clearly again.
The beginning always feels tough.
As someone who has started learning about data structures very recently (not even the algorithms yet), the concepts sometimes are confusing. And when it comes solving problems, it feels like a battlefield and I am fighting with swords but absolutely no training.
The major challenges i face:
Building logics and then actual code
Tons of errors and not able to understand the real problem
Everyone's moving faster but I am stuck
Hi!
Thought I would share a resource I've been using to learn DSA, in python.
It's on youtube, so you can use it for free.
A common mistake what everyone does when getting into DSA , they directly dive into LeetCode without learning the prerequisites and sit with questions for hours together, failing to understand it.
When we were in school, we were all taught in a pattern, for example you were taught the A,B,C's , then words, and later on sentences.
genuinely so valuable, if only someone gave me this advice when i was starting with DSA too! But given how the last time i solved leetcode was years ago, i am pretty sure i will have to restart entire DSA🥶
How do you personally understand and visualize time complexities like O(n), O(n²), or O(log n) when solving problems? Any analogies or examples that really clicked for you?
Dry running and looking at the program from the loops point of view helps too.
In most cases( not all), the number of nested for loops can tell you how the complexity is going to be, if it's a single for loop it will be O(n), a single nested for loop, O(n²) and so on.
Also, what you want your program to do?
This question helps too, say you wanted it to search for an element in an array, that would mean that it would have to look at each element once, just checking it with the required element, so you know clearly that you want your program to go through each element once, thus 1 loop, thus worst case complexity would be O(n) where n is basically number of elements in the array
It’s something you’ve atleast heard if you’re into technology. DSA this, DSA that, many people fear this, and many strive. But what is DSA? For those who uninitiated, it stands for Data Structures and Algorithms. Divided into two parts DS (Data Structures) which deal with data organisation (Arrays, Strings…) and Algorithms (step by step formulas to curate a solution).
All this information is fine, but what can you do about it? How do I learn it, and how do I master it. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.
Let’s elaborate on step 1:
The first step would be to concentrate on building a strong foundation. These include having a strong grasp over a programming language (C++ is the fastest and most common, with Python in the roster, but Java which is the most asked in interviews) through actually learning and building hands on projects (small as a simple hello…
could you tell us the roadmap you followed to complete Data Structures in 15 days? I think that would greatly help others doing it currently, + an approach to Algorithms as well
Thanks for that!!