Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions [Paperback]

Gayle Laakmann McDowell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 22, 2011

Now in the 5th edition, Cracking the Coding Interview gives you the interview preparation you need to get the top software developer jobs. This is a deeply technical book and focuses on the software engineering skills to ace your interview. The book is over 500 pages and includes 150 programming interview questions and answers, as well as other advice. 

The full list of topics are as follows:

The Interview Process

This section offers an overview on questions are selected and how you will be evaluated. What happens when you get a question wrong? When should you start preparing, and how? What language should you use? All these questions and more are answered.

Behind the Scenes

Learn what happens behind the scenes during your interview, how decisions really get made, who you interview with, and what they ask you. Companies covered include Google, Amazon, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook.

Special Situations

This section explains the process for experience candidates, Program Managers, Dev Managers, Testers / SDETs, and more. Learn what your interviewers are looking for and how much code you need to know.

Before the Interview

In order to ace the interview, you first need to get an interview. This section describes what a software engineer's resume should look like and what you should be doing well before your interview.

Behavioral Preparation

Although most of a software engineering interview will be technical, behavioral questions matter too. This section covers how to prepare for behavioral questions and how to give strong, structured responses.

Technical Questions (+ 5 Algorithm Approaches)

This section covers how to prepare for technical questions (without wasting your time) and teaches actionable ways to solve the trickiest algorithm problems. It also teaches you what exactly "good coding" is when it comes to an interview.

150 Programming Questions and Answers

This section forms the bulk of the book. Each section opens with a discussion of the core knowledge and strategies to tackle this type of question, diving into exactly how you break down and solve it. Topics covered include 

• Arrays and Strings
• Linked Lists
• Stacks and Queues
• Trees and Graphs
• Bit Manipulation
• Brain Teasers
• Mathematics and Probability
• Object-Oriented Design
• Recursion and Dynamic Programming
• Sorting and Searching
• Scalability and Memory Limits
• Testing
• C and C++
• Java
• Databases
• Threads and Locks

For the widest degree of readability, the solutions are almost entirely written with Java (with the exception of C / C++ questions). A link is provided with the book so that you can download, compile, and play with the solutions yourself.

Changes from the Fourth Edition: The fifth edition includes over 200 pages of new content, bringing the book from 300 pages to over 500 pages. Major revisions were done to almost every solution, including a number of alternate solutions added. The introductory chapters were massively expanded, as were the opening of each of the chapters under Technical Questions. In addition, 24 new questions were added.

Cracking the Coding Interview, Fifth Edition is the most expansive, detailed guide on how to ace your software development / programming interviews.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

I am not a recruiter. I am a software engineer. And as such, I know what it's like to be asked to whip up brilliant algorithms on the spot, and then write flawless code on a whiteboard. I know because I've been asked to do the same thing--in interviews at Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon, among other companies.

I also know because I've been on the other side of the table, asking candidates to do this. I've combed through stacks of resumes to find the engineers who I thought might be able to actually pass these interviews. And I've debated in Google's Hiring Committee whether or not a candidate did well enough to merit an offer. I understand and have experienced the full hiring circle.

And you, reader, are probably preparing for an interview, perhaps tomorrow, next week, or next year. You likely have or are working towards a Computer Science or related degree. I am not here to re-teach you the basics of what a binary search tree is, or how to traverse a linked list. You already know such things, and if not, there are plenty of other resources to learn them.

This book is here to help you take your understanding of Computer Science fundamentals to the next level, to help you apply those fundamentals to crack the coding interview. Because while the fundamentals are necessary to land one of the top jobs, they aren't always enough. For countless readers, this book has been just what they needed. 

About the Author

Gayle Laakmann McDowell is the founder / CEO of CareerCup.com and the author of The Google Resume: How to Prepare for a Career and Land a Job at Apple, Microsoft, Google, or any Top Tech Company.

Work Experience

Her interviewing expertise comes from vast experience on both sides of the desk. She has completed Software Engineering interviews with - and received offers from - Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Capital IQ, and a number of other firms.

Of these top companies, she has worked for Microsoft, Apple and Google, where she gained deep insight into each company's hiring practices. 

Most recently, Gayle spent three years at Google as a Software Engineer and was one of the company's lead interviewers. She interviewed over 120 candidates in the U.S. and abroad, and, as a software engineer, led much of the recruiting for her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.

Additionally, she served on Google's Hiring Committee, where she reviewed each candidate's feedback and made hire / no-hire decisions. She assessed over 700 candidates in that role, and evaluated hundreds more resumes.

Education
Gayle holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and MBA from The Wharton School.

Product Details

• Paperback: 508 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 5th Revised edition (August 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1466208686
• ISBN-13: 978-1466208681
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (168 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Business & Investing > Job Hunting & Careers > Interviewing

More About the Author

Gayle Laakmann McDowell's interviewing expertise comes from vast experience on both sides of the desk. She has completed Software Engineering interviews with - and received offers from - Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Capital IQ, and a number of other firms.

Of these top companies, she has worked for Microsoft, Apple and Google, where she gained deep insight into each company's hiring practices.

Most recently, Gayle spent three years at Google as a Software Engineer and was one of the company's lead interviewers. She interviewed over 120 candidates in the U.S. and abroad, and led much of the recruiting for her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.

Additionally, she served on Google's Hiring Committee, where she reviewed each candidate's feedback and made hire / no-hire decisions.

She assessed over 700 candidates in that role, and evaluated hundreds more resumes.

In 2005, Gayle founded CareerCup.com to bring her wealth of experience to candidates around the world. Launched first as a free forum for interview questions, CareerCup now offers a book, a video and mock interviews.

Gayle holds a bachelor's and master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from The Wharton School.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'Must-study' before taking a Tech Interview August 28, 2011

By ginnie

Format:Paperback

If you are planning to appear for a technical interview at any big software-firm, I highly recommend studying this book.

When I started my preparation, the entire process seemed really daunting. There is so much to study, and there is vast amount of study-material available out there. I was really confused on what/how to prepare. A friend of mine suggested me this book and so I read it.

To summarize, this book is an awesome compilation of problems, strategies and approaches you must know for doing well in a Tech interview.

It starts with chapters focusing on non-coding aspects (company-info, resume, behavioral etc.). I feel that, thoroughly covering just these first 30 pages is suffice for doing well in the 'HR' parts of tech-interviews.

After that, it contains 150 questions grouped by categories, covering all the relevant areas. And finally it has useful information, solutions and discussions for all the questions.

Qu. "If I memorize solutions for all these questions, Can I crack an Interview?" Ans. No Way!
Rather, if you slog through these questions, learning techniques; I am sure you will be able to solve questions on that day.

Solving problems through the book, I learnt different [ingenious] approaches. And with practice, I was be able to [/tried to] identify patterns in new questions that I faced.

I particularly love 3 chapters- "Recursion", "Moderate Interview Problems", "Hard Interview Problems". Because they contain some really neat algorithms :)

Hope this review helps.. And all the best for your interview :)

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great investment March 16, 2012

By Larry

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Bought this book 3 weeks before interview. Read the book twice with careful hand-writing practice on each question. Got Amazon offer. The interview had 4 questions and one was in the book. The other 3 were not in the book. This book will not prevent you from getting new questions during interviews. But it does cover most of the common areas that interviewers are interested in. Once you are familiar with the solutions, you have the skills and confidence to solve new questions during interviews.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Helped me a lot February 16, 2012

By Tumer TOPCU

Format:Paperback

I have been away from most of the fundamental Computer Science concepts that the big tech companies ask about in their interviews for almost 8 years now. I needed a source to brush up my skills again. This book has helped me greatly. I have been able land face-to-face interviews with both Google and Amazon. I wasn't able to get an offer but I know I came very very close to getting an offer. This is a must book that you need to study for 2 months before even considering to apply these companies.