5 Tips to stay Consistent during Coding Interview Preparations

Many of us start enthusiastically on our coding interview preparation journey with the goal of breaking into top-product based companies and becoming exceptional programmers. However, as time progresses, we lose our excitement and tend to develop inconsistency and complacency in our quest.

To land a decent software development role, coding interview preparation requires dedicated efforts over a long period of time, usually 6–9 months. It involves a good understanding of data structures and algorithms and various computer science fundamental concepts. It is like a mental exercise that requires constant practice, and skipping even a few days can cause you to fall short of your objectives.

Do you also become irregular during your coding interview preparation journey? Let’s get along with the top 5 practical tips and techniques to ace them like a pro.

1. Create realistic goals for yourself

We typically set very high standards for ourselves, which is one of the main reasons why we become inconsistent in our pursuit. Standards that are so high that they may not always be achievable on a daily basis.

Given the amount of randomness and uncertainty in life, there will always be some unanticipated and unforeseen work that pulls us away from our objectives.

Therefore, it becomes necessary for us to set realistic goals in order to build consistency.

Let us understand it with a simple example -

When most of us start our preparations, we set a target to code for 8–10 hours daily, which is around 56–70 hours a week. It appears to be ambitious and promising, Isn’t it? Yes, but the reality is that most people’s outcomes are considerably different from what they planned.

Monday: 8 hours

Tuesday: 8 hours

Wednesday: 6 hours

Thursday: 4 hours

Friday: 1 hour

Saturday: 0

Sunday: 0

Total: 27 hours/week

Which is actually enough to get into a decent product based firm. But due to the above inconsistency, people often end up taking short pauses in between their preparation and when they start again, they have to put extra effort to build the same concepts again which ultimately proves detrimental to both learning and growth.

On the other hand, if you set more reasonable targets, say 3 hours every day, it is easier to attain on a daily basis as compared to 8 hours every day. You will be able to devote 21 hours every week towards coding interview preparations and still remain motivated for the following week. This is how you can simply avoid burnout and maintain your equilibrium for a longer period of time.

2. Monitor your progress

“If you can’t measure it, You can’t improve it”

Working on realistic and attainable goals alone is not sufficient. Many times it happens that we achieve very good ranks in a few contests and very bad in some, or at times we often end up doing the same type of questions again and again.

Due to this, it becomes imperative for us to monitor our progress to identify and address our weak zones. There are many ways to track your progress, ranging from a simple spreadsheet to tracking systems like Codeforces Visualizer and stopstalk.com.

Taking their assistance will help you increase your awareness regarding your daily progress towards your coding interview practice. Not only this, but it will also motivate you to put more effort into the endeavours.

This is one of the reasons due to which we have built a dashboard on the Renaissance platform to help our students keep track of their daily progress.

3. Find a study group

One of the most effective strategies to keep oneself motivated and consistent throughout is by preparing for coding interviews with friends. A like-minded friend circle striving towards a common goal helps in setting a healthy competitive environment that fosters growth.

When you discuss various problems with your friends, you also get to know about different approaches to solve them. This simple practice helps in broadening your thinking keeps you engaged for a longer time. Finding a close friend with a shared objective and comparatively equivalent talents is an excellent method, to begin with.

The importance of peer learning is immense and is also a major reason why we started Peer Groups at Programming Pathshala. We divide students into groups of 5–6 students each wherein they can discuss doubts, create development projects for resumes & also take mock interviews of each other.

4. Seek mentorship & create accountability

If you’re easily distracted and lose track of your daily goals, having accountability for your objectives can help you stay on track. It is advisable to find a mentor who can make your preparation journey easier.

A good mentor not only holds you accountable but also guides you throughout the interview preparation journey. In case you are unable to find a mentor, then you can take the help of a friend or a sibling. You can even try to maintain a daily journal to build self-accountability.

We have mentors at Programming Pathshala who have graduated from IITs and have previously worked at firms such as Amazon and Tower Research Capital. They have immense expertise in educating students for coding interview preparation and have 1000+ success stories.

5. Keep a reward system

The process of preparing for a coding interview can often get tedious because results are frequently delayed and you do not get to see instant results. It requires a lot of patience to get through it and thus, an effective way to tackle it can be to keep a reward system for yourself.

You can give yourself a small reward or a treat after the end of the day. This way you will also have an extrinsic motivation to keep going on days when you are slacking off. You can try for rewards like a movie or a vanilla ice cream (choose the flavor according to your taste :P)

Summary

Getting into a good product based company requires strong problem-solving skills and an in-depth understanding of Data Structures & Algorithms which can only be achieved by consistent and dedicated preparation. Trying some of the above-mentioned techniques will surely help you in the long run.

Do remember that Rome was not built in a day, but its bricks were laid daily. Code consistently and you will see the results soon :)

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