Coding Interview Prep
Patterns, mock interviews, system design basics and offers.
Taught by Anisha Rai · Senior Software Engineer
What you'll learn
- Apply a six-step method to clarify, solve, code and test an unfamiliar problem while explaining your thinking aloud
- Recognise when a question calls for two pointers, a sliding window, a hash map, prefix sums or binary search
- Implement BFS, DFS and topological sort in Python for grid, tree and dependency problems
- State the time and space complexity of each solution and justify the trade-offs you make
- Structure a 45-minute system design answer covering requirements, estimates, API, data model and scaling
- Prepare a bank of STAR stories, run realistic mock interviews and negotiate an offer with confidence
About this course
Coding Interview Prep is for developers with a year or two of programming behind them who want to walk into software engineer interviews with a plan rather than a pile of random practice problems. You will learn the handful of problem patterns behind most data structures and algorithms questions, including two pointers, sliding window, hash maps, prefix sums, binary search, BFS and DFS, plus a repeatable method for clarifying, solving, coding and testing out loud. You will also get a practical system design primer for junior and mid-level roles, a way to prepare behavioural interview answers with the STAR method, advice on running useful mock interviews, and a calm approach to comparing and negotiating job offers. Examples are in Python 3. You should be comfortable with loops, functions, lists and dictionaries before you start.
Course content
7 lessons- 1How Coding Interviews Work in 2026The typical interview loop, what interviewers actually score, and a study plan you can follow.Preview
- 2A Repeatable Method for Any ProblemClarify, work examples, start with brute force, optimise, code and test, all out loud.
- 3Two Pointers and Sliding WindowTwo patterns that turn many quadratic array and string problems into linear-time solutions.
- 4Hash Maps, Prefix Sums and Binary SearchTrade memory for speed, precompute running totals and binary search over possible answers.
- 5Trees and Graphs: BFS, DFS and Topological SortTraverse grids, trees and dependency graphs with the three graph patterns interviewers use most.
- 6System Design Basics for Early-Career EngineersA calm framework for open-ended design questions, core building blocks and quick capacity estimates.
- 7Behavioural Rounds, Mock Interviews and OffersTell clear STAR stories, practise under realistic conditions and handle offers professionally.