Coding / System Design Interview Preparation Books 2021

One of the biggest things that make up this life is work. For most people if not all, working will take up a huge percentage of time in their lives and that is why we are encouraged to be engaged in a career that not only pays the needs of life but gives you fulfilment. Before we take the shovel and begin working, a little inspiration is always welcome. Check this out:

“The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something. Don’t wait for good things to happen to you. If you go out and make some good things happen, you will fill the world with hope, you will fill yourself with hope.”
― Barack Obama

For all developers and system designers out there, today we are giving out something that wholly belongs to you. We understand that it is difficult to be asked to come up with brilliant algorithms on the spontaneously and then write flawless code on a whiteboard during a rigorous and competitive interview for a role you want.

To curb the freeze and the anxiety that may come as a result of such an experience, below are books authored by developers and fellow System Designers to give aspiring professionals the advice, exposure and knowledge to boost their performance and enhance their chances of acing every interview they will attend.

1. Cracking the Coding Interview

Author Gayle Laakmann McDowell is the founder and CEO of CareerCup and the author of Cracking the PM Interview and Cracking the Tech Career. She has worked as an engineer for Google, Microsoft, and Apple and it was at Google, where she served in the hiring committee that she discovered the disconnect between candidates, their skill set, and their interview performance. She understands firsthand what ails every interviewee and thus authored this book to provide the light and guidance they need.

This Edition is here to help you through this process, teaching you what you need to know and enabling you to perform at your very best. Her experience in coaching and interviewing hundreds of software engineers resulted in this book.

Herein, you will learn how to uncover the hints and hidden details in a question, discover how to break down a problem into manageable chunks, develop techniques to unstick yourself when stuck, learn (or re-learn) core computer science concepts, and practice on 189 interview questions and solutions.

What you will find inside:

• 189 programming interview questions, ranging from the basics to the trickiest algorithm problems.
• A walk-through of how to derive each solution, so that you can learn how to get there yourself.
• Hints on how to solve each of the 189 questions, just like what you would get in a real interview.
• Five proven strategies to tackle algorithm questions, so that you can solve questions you haven’t seen.
• Extensive coverage of essential topics, such as big O time, data structures, and core algorithms.
• A behind the scenes look at how top companies like Google and Facebook hire developers.
• Techniques to prepare for and ace the soft side of the interview: behavioral questions.
• For interviewers and companies: details on what makes a good interview question and hiring process.

Having walked in this path herself, the author understands what it takes and what is required to succeed in this competitive landscape. Get the gems, the knowledge and the skills you must have to complement your skillsets. A copy can be delivered to you from Amazon from the link below:

2. Elements of Programming Interviews in Python

For Software and systems engineers, most of the exciting companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple have this tendency of having highly technical interview questions during their hiring process. They can be daunting and challenging for most and that is why authors Adnan Aziz, Tsung-Hsien Lee and Amit Prakash teamed up to come up with this book. The core of this text is a collection of 300 problems with detailed solutions, including over 150 figures and 300 tested programs. The problems are challenging, well-motivated, and accessible and are representative of the questions asked at interviews at big tech companies.

All of the three authors successfully made it through the Google interview process, and went on to work at Google, where, among other things, they had an opportunity to interview candidates for their teams.

Beginning with non-technical aspects of interviewing, the book goes on to coding problems presented through a series of chapters on basic and advanced data structures, searching, sorting, algorithm design principles, and concurrency. Each chapter stars with a brief introduction, a case study, top tips, and a review of the most important library methods. This is followed by a broad and thought-provoking set of problems. In brief, this is the book every aspiring software professional intending to join the big companies should go through to have a generous look at what they will be faced with in the process.

This is a wonderful resource for anyone preparing for a modern Python software engineering interview. Get it from Amazon today by clicking on the link below.

3. Designing Data-Intensive Applications

Martin is a researcher in distributed systems at the University of Cambridge. Previously he was a software engineer and entrepreneur at Internet companies including LinkedIn and Rapportive, where he worked on large-scale data infrastructure.

Time will come in the professional path of a data engineer when the need for scale erupts and becomes urgent. Being ready for such times is the best path of action and if you want to learn how to make data systems scalable, author Martin has this as a gift for you. You will then be able to design Data-Intensive Applications that can support web or mobile apps with millions of users.

Software engineers, software architects, and technical managers will find this text especially relevant if they need to make decisions about the architecture of the systems they work on—for example, if they need to choose tools for solving a given problem and figure out how best to apply them.

A sneak peek inside:

• Peer under the hood of the systems you already use, and learn how to use and operate them more effectively
• Make informed decisions by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different tools
• Navigate the trade-offs around consistency, scalability, fault tolerance, and complexity
• Understand the distributed systems research upon which modern databases are built
• Peek behind the scenes of major online services, and learn from their architectures

If you develop applications that have some kind of server/backend for storing or processing data, and your applications use the internet (e.g., web applications, mobile apps, or internet-connected sensors), then this book is for you. Click below to get it as soon as possible from Amazon.

4. System Design Interview

Going for a System Design Interview can be one of the most feared feats because it is considered as most complex and most difficult technical job interview by many. Alex Xu, the author of this text gives his best to bridge the gap between the interviewees and the professionals in the field so that the ones seeking roles have a good understanding of what they will be expecting. This book provides a step-by-step framework on how to tackle a system design question. It includes many real-world examples to illustrate the systematic approach with detailed steps that you can follow.

What you will find inside:

• An insider’s take on what interviewers really look for and why.
• A 4-step framework for solving any system design interview question.
• 16 real system design interview questions with detailed solutions.
• 188 diagrams to visually explain how different systems work.

Packed with sixteen chapters, this text is a good read because the author intentionally makes sure that you understand what he is passing across and goes further to provide flowcharts for the complex systems presented. Never let System Design Interview intimidate you again. Get a copy of Alex’s work from Amazon below and say goodbye to the bad interview days.

5. Programming Interviews Exposed

Programming Interviews Exposed is the programmer’s ideal first choice for technical interview preparation. Updated to reflect changing techniques and trends, this new fourth edition provides insider guidance on the unique interview process that today’s programmers face.

This book does not just give you a collection of questions and answers, it walks you through the process of coming up with the solution so you learn the skills and techniques to shine on whatever problems you are given.

This guide will help you:

• Learn what the interviewer needs to hear to move you forward in the process
• Adopt an effective approach to phone screens with nontechnical recruiters
• Examine common interview problems and tests with expert explanations
• Be ready to demonstrate your skills verbally, in contests, on GitHub, and more
• Demonstrate your skillset under pressure
• Stand out as the best candidate for the job
• Learn what the interviewer needs to hear to move you forward in the process
• Adopt an effective approach to phone screens with non-technical recruiters
• Examine common interview problems and tests with expert explanations
• Be ready to demonstrate your skills verbally, in contests, on GitHub, and more

John Mongan (Author) in this edition combines a thoroughly revised basis in classic questions involving fundamental data structures and algorithms with problems and step-by-step procedures for new topics including probability, data science, statistics, and machine learning which will help you fully prepare for whatever comes your way.

6. Elements of Programming Interviews in Java

Authors Adnan Aziz, Tsung-Hsien Lee and Amit Prakash teamed up to come up with Elements of Programming Interviews specifically for Java developers. The core of this text is a collection of 250 Java problems with detailed solutions, including over 200 figures and 300 tested programs. The problems are representative of interview questions asked at leading software companies and are challenging, well-motivated, and accessible.

All of the three authors successfully made it through the Google interview process, and went on to work at Google, where, among other things, they had an opportunity to interview candidates for their teams.

Beginning with non-technical aspects of interviewing, the book goes on to coding problems presented through a series of chapters on basic and advanced data structures, searching, sorting, algorithm design principles, and concurrency. Each chapter stars with a brief introduction, a case study, top tips, and a review of the most important library methods. This is followed by a broad and thought-provoking set of problems. In brief, this is the book every aspiring software professional intending to join the big companies should go through to have a generous look at what they will be faced with in the process.

This is a wonderful resource for anyone preparing for a modern Java software engineering interview. Get it from Amazon today by clicking on the link below.

Final Remarks

In this era of high competitiveness, every career has brilliant talent and the technical sphere is no different. Even though you may have the technical edge and skillset, chances of you not getting hired are high if you are not able to effectively and efficiently demonstrate that skillset under pressure, in competition with hundreds of others with the same background. The books provided above were written to help you polish your edges, beautify your garden and embolden you shine when you are taking that technical interview in the best companies in the world.

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