How to Rock the array Interview?

How to Rock the array Interview?

Did you know?

Preparing for technical or coding interviews such as concepts of DSA takes up almost 2-3 months of getting acquainted with the algorithms.

This includes preparing for the Array Interview Questions along with Binary Trees, Linked Lists and other Data Structures that are central to this concept.

Essentially, between your application procedure and your first coding interview, most of us do not have the liberty to spare that amount of time on only learning about the Arrays.

That is why we are here to simplify your task!

Learn how to completely rock your array interviews and make a lasting impression on your interviewers with your coding skills!

 What Do You Mean By Arrays?

Arrays are basically the simplest form of Data Structures that are used for storing elements within a memory in contiguous locations.These locations within the memory can be traced or tracked using indexes that contain an unique identifier.

Using an array, one can declare five different values of the “type int” that can be declared within an array. Also, an essential feature of the array is that it allows the users to declare the array containing the five values without having to declare each variable separately.Each variable within an array consists of its own specific identifier.

For industrial and technical purposes, learning the concept of arrays can give you an edge over other programmers who may not be acquainted with it.

Let’s find out why it is so in the following section.

Why Are Arrays Important For Coding Interviews?

As you first step into the world of coding and programming, you will soon find out that the concept of Arrays has multiple use-cases especially in the process of storing and sorting large amounts of data in-real time.

One of the greatest advantages of using Arrays is that this concept is highly ubiquitous. This essentially means that no matter which programming language you choose, the arrays will always hold an important place.

From C++ to Ruby, every other programming language effectively uses Arrays. But, in order to learn how to put the functions of Arrays into use, you will have to be efficient in solving Array interview questions.

Let’s learn more about the different algorithms that you can use to solve Array based problems from the following section.

Top Interview Strategies For Answering Array Based Questions

When you face the concept of Arrays in an interview make sure to plan a full-fledged strategy on how you will be tackling the questions.

Starting with array based problem solving algorithms, answering the array interview questions does not only require learning the proper theoretical strategies but also applying them practically by practicing on a regular basis.

Let us walk you through a complete overview on how to rock the Array interview.

1. Practice popular approaches for solving Array based problems

Amongst all the different approaches and algorithms that are used for solving array based problems, here are some of the top few that have proven to reduce the time complexity by a landslide:

• Using the Single and Nested Loops

Solving the array based problems using Single Nested Loops is definitely time consuming but it will be worth it once you get the hang of it!

All you have to do is iterate on every step and keep building partial solutions simultaneously by processing each input.

• Decrease and Conquer Algorithm

This algorithm is based on figuring out the solution to a problem statement by dividing it into sub problems and considering the solution to them. This approach naturally turns into the recursive algorithm due to its nature.

• Using a Binary Tree

This approach would require the given array to depict properties of a sorted array. If it fulfills this criteria, we can implement a Binary Tree and solve multiple searching problems with 0(logn) complexity for time.

2. Solve Array based problems on a regular basis

From Cracking the Coding Interviews to Strivers SDE Sheet, find such online resources that will not only provide you with helpful practice problems from the previous coding interviews but, on the other hand, they will also walk you through all the approaches and algorithms for solving those problems.

Essentially, these study guides are not designed to spoon feed the readers but to instill ideas on how they can easily tackle the array interview questions on their own and develop their expertise.

3. Learn how to create graphs to solve the array problems

Learning to encode graphs would be the next fundamental step in solving the original array based problem.

One can learn to create graphs by focusing on the following important data structures:

• Adjacent matrix – These are the rows and columns of the graph
• Adjacent list- These represent every vertex of the graph as a node of its object.
• Adjacent set- The adjacent sets are used for mitigating the challenges posed by an adjacent list while creating the graph.

4. Present your codes in an explainable format

Now some of you might not only be asked to appear for an online interview. The Technical Interview Round of all the eminent tech companies usually ask the candidates to write the codes on paper and explain the same to their interviewers.

The Array Interview Questions are generally not as difficult but your interview can certainly go downhill if you do not present your codes in a format that seems self-explanatory.

5. Explain the idea behind your approach

We all know that every problem statement definitely has more than one approach that can be used for solving them. The ones with the quickest time complexity should be your goal.

Hence, whatever you present to the interviewer, make sure that you thoroughly explain your idea behind choosing the approach so that the interviewer would be able to judge your cognitive skills.

Wrapping Up

Rocking the Array Interview is just a matter of a few months of practice which can definitely be best attained by focusing on coding problems from extremely resourceful guides such as the Strivers SDE Sheet or Cracking The Coding Interview.

If you still have more questions on other coding concepts, check out our website for bundles of online resources.