Why I chose Leetcode
The professionals always say that in order to sharpen your algorithm problem-solving skills, the best way is to keep practicing. It’s true not only for beginners but also professionals as coding is always a part of the interview processes for any developing or engineering-related positions. You can start by doing three exercises per week if it takes you almost the whole afternoon trying to solve a problem, or if you are motivated enough, one every day would be perfect.
At the beginning of my learning curve, I did quite a lot of Hackerrank but recently have turned to Leetcode. They basically are platforms developed specifically for developers or people learning to code. They have quite lots of similarities in terms of features: exercises with easy, medium, or hard levels; challenge competitions; points system to keep you from being discouraged; tracking system so you know you’re way behind what you had planned to complete in the beginning. Well, I’m just kidding.
What I like about Leetcode is, firstly, its intuitive well-presented UI and some useful features (like the solution tab for example). Even though I won’t go there first when I haven’t figured out the solution yet, knowing its existence does help me mentally. Secondly, you can see the problem description and the code editor on the same screen. You may think it’s not that important but it does make a great different. Another highlight is the discussion tab, where everyone tries to showcase their solutions. When I first started out, I seriously feel that I was the only newbie there. Those smart people. Anyway, instead of scrolling down the never-ending list of comments of people on a solution of somebody like on Hackerrank, you won’t have that problem with Leetcode. You could pick the most good looking man on the list and admire his solution. Handsome and smart. What’s better than that?
So that’s it for my sale pitch. You can choose whatever works best for you, but I do recommend try Leetcode out.
Happy reading!
