🚀 Crack Coding Interviews with These Must-Know Patterns

If you're serious about acing technical interviews, there's one powerful strategy you must follow:

Learn the patterns. Master the patterns. Apply the patterns.

Coding interviews aren’t just about solving random problems—they’re about identifying recurring patterns and using them efficiently. Below is a curated list of 9 essential patterns with handpicked resources (🔗) to help you become interview-ready. Let’s dive in 👇

1. 🟡 Two Pointers

Efficiently process arrays and linked lists by moving two pointers in a coordinated fashion.

• Understanding Two Pointers (1)
• Understanding Two Pointers (2)

2. 🔵 Intervals

Master this to handle problems involving ranges, overlapping intervals, and scheduling.

• Interval Problems Guide (1)
• Interval Problems Guide (2)

3. 🟢 Array

The building blocks of many problems—sorting, prefix sums, rearrangements, and more.

• Array Techniques (1)
• Array Techniques (2)
• Array Techniques (3)

4. 🟣 Dynamic Programming (DP)

Break down problems into subproblems. A game-changer in interviews!

• DP Basics & Patterns (1)
• DP Basics & Patterns (2)

5. 🔴 DFS & BFS (Graph Traversal)

Crucial for tree and graph problems. Know how to traverse, detect cycles, and more.

• DFS & BFS Guide (1)
• DFS & BFS Guide (2)
• DFS & BFS Guide (3)
• DFS & BFS Guide (4)

6. 🟠 Binary Search

It's not just about searching in sorted arrays—learn how to apply it to answers!

• Binary Search Problems (1)
• Binary Search Problems (2)
• Binary Search Problems (3)

7. ⚪ Tree Traversal

In-order, pre-order, post-order—essential for solving recursive tree problems.

• Tree Traversals (1)
• Tree Traversals (2)
• Tree Traversals (3)

8. 🟤 Sliding Window

For problems involving subarrays or substrings, this technique is pure gold.

• Sliding Window (1)
• Sliding Window (2)
• Sliding Window (3)
• Sliding Window (4)

9. ⚫ Backtracking

Explore all possible options. Key for permutations, combinations, and constraint problems.

• Backtracking Patterns (1)
• Backtracking Patterns (2)
• Backtracking Patterns (3)

💡 Final Thoughts

Mastering these patterns will 10x your coding confidence and make problem-solving feel intuitive. Instead of brute-forcing solutions, you’ll recognize the pattern, apply the template, and solve it efficiently.

So bookmark this. Save it. Share it with a friend preparing for interviews. 🔁

Want a printable cheat sheet of these patterns or a PDF version for offline prep? Just ask! 😊