Stop Grinding LeetCode. There's a Better Way 🧠

We've all been there — opening LeetCode at midnight, doom-scrolling through problems, and convincing ourselves that solving 500 problems is the magic number for cracking FAANG interviews.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: most people who grind LeetCode are doing it wrong.

The Problem with Grinding

The typical approach looks like this:

1. Pick a random problem
2. Struggle for 30 minutes
3. Look at the solution
4. Feel bad about yourself
5. Move to the next one
6. Repeat

This is like trying to learn piano by randomly pressing keys. Sure, you're technically practicing, but you're not building any real skill.

The Better Way: Pattern Recognition

Instead of solving 500 random problems, focus on recognising 15-20 core patterns. Every LeetCode problem is a variation of a handful of fundamental techniques:

The Core Patterns

Pattern	Example Problems	When to Use
Two Pointers	Container With Most Water, 3Sum	Sorted arrays, pair finding
Sliding Window	Longest Substring, Max Subarray	Contiguous subarray/substring
BFS/DFS	Number of Islands, Word Ladder	Graph/tree traversal
Dynamic Programming	Coin Change, LIS	Optimal substructure
Binary Search	Search in Rotated Array	Sorted data, decision problems
Backtracking	N-Queens, Permutations	Generate all combinations

The Study Framework

For each pattern:

1. Learn the template — understand the general structure
2. Solve 3-5 easy problems to internalise it
3. Solve 2-3 medium problems to build confidence
4. Attempt 1 hard problem to test mastery
5. Review after 3 days — spaced repetition

# Example: Sliding Window Template
def sliding_window(arr, k):
    window_start = 0
    result = 0
    
    for window_end in range(len(arr)):
        # Expand the window
        # ... process arr[window_end]
        
        # Shrink when window size > k
        if window_end - window_start + 1 > k:
            # ... remove arr[window_start]
            window_start += 1
        
        # Update result
        result = max(result, current_calculation)
    
    return result

Time Management

Here's a realistic schedule that works with a full-time job:

• Weekdays: 1 problem/day, 45 minutes max
• Weekends: 2-3 problems, focused on one pattern
• Sunday: Review week's problems without looking at solutions

In 8-10 weeks, you'll have covered all major patterns with ~60-80 well-understood problems.

The Secret Sauce: Explain Your Solutions

After solving a problem, explain your approach out loud as if you're in an interview. This does two things:

1. Exposes gaps in your understanding
2. Builds communication skills that interviewers actually evaluate

"The person who can solve a medium problem and explain it clearly will beat the person who can solve a hard problem but can't explain it."

Conclusion

Stop counting problems. Start counting patterns. Quality over quantity will always win in the long run.

Your move: Pick one pattern from the table above and commit to mastering it this week. That's it. Just one.

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What patterns have worked for you? I'd love to hear your approach — reach out on Twitter.