Coding Interview University: A Coding Interview Study Plan
/coding-interview-university
Coding Interview University is a free, GitHub-hosted study plan covering the computer science fundamentals a technical interview tests, from data structures to system design. Its README says the creator used this plan to land a Software Development Engineer job at Amazon. Reach for it if you skipped a CS degree and want one linear curriculum; skip it if you only have a couple weeks and need a short refresher, not a months-long plan.
What the Study Plan Covers
Coding Interview University is a GitHub repository organized as a checklist-style curriculum for becoming a software engineer at a large company. It walks through data structures, algorithms, and system design as GitHub-flavored markdown task lists you fork and check off in order, then adds a 'Getting the Job' section on interview logistics once the core technical topics are done.
Why This Study Plan is Popular
Part of the pull is the origin story baked into the README itself: the creator credits this exact plan with landing a Software Development Engineer job at Amazon, and separately wrote about spending 8 months studying full-time for a Google interview. The README also states the material gets you ready for interviews at Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft by name. Community translations exist in languages including Vietnamese, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese, with several more listed as in progress, so the audience isn't only English speakers.
Key Components of the Curriculum
- โCore data structure topics as GitHub-flavored markdown checklists, including balanced search trees at a conceptual level and traversal orders: preorder, inorder, postorder, BFS, and DFS.
- โFive named sorting algorithms to implement: selection, insertion, heapsort, quicksort, and mergesort.
- โGraph coverage split into directed and undirected graphs, adjacency matrix and adjacency list representations, plus BFS and DFS traversals.
- โAn explicitly optional back half, separate from the required path, covering System Design, Scalability, and Data Handling for readers with 4+ years of experience.
- โExtra self-balancing tree variants filed under 'optional' include AVL, splay, and red/black trees, along with 2-3 and 2-3-4 search trees, N-ary trees, and B-Trees.
- โA language-choice section documenting the author's own picks: C for feeling how memory and data structures work close to the metal, Python for writing less code during the actual interview.
- โA curated shortlist of data-structures-and-algorithms and interview-prep books split by language (Python, C, Java, C++), with a note on which free Coursera courses pair with the Sedgewick and Wayne titles.
- โA 'Don't Make My Mistakes' section on flashcard use and a rule to solve interview problems while you're learning a topic, not after.
Who Can Benefit from This Guide
- โขSelf-taught developers or bootcamp graduates who never took a formal data structures and algorithms course and want one ordered curriculum instead of a pile of random links.
- โขEngineers with 4+ years of experience prepping specifically for system design rounds, since the README calls that section out for people at that experience level.
- โขAnyone targeting interviews at large companies, since the README names Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft as the kind of employers this preparation targets.
- โขNon-English speakers who want the plan in their own language, given the README's list of community translations that includes Vietnamese and Japanese.
- โขDevelopers choosing between C, Python, Java, and C++ for interview prep who want the trade-offs the author actually weighed, not just a list of options.
Strengths
- โFree and open under CC-BY-SA-4.0, with the whole curriculum readable on GitHub or forked and tracked with checkboxes.
- โSpecific topic coverage rather than a generic pointer: five named sorting algorithms, explicit traversal orders, and both graph representations, not just 'learn algorithms.'
- โDraws a clear line between required interview topics and an optional back half, so you're not stuck on red-black trees before covering the essentials.
- โBuilt from the author's own hard-won experience, including a section that steers you away from over-relying on flashcards and toward practicing problems while you learn, not after.
- โAvailable in multiple languages through community-maintained translations, including Vietnamese and Japanese.
Important Considerations and Exclusions
- โณIt's reading material and links, not an interactive course: there's no built-in judge, video hosting, or progress tracking beyond checking boxes in a forked markdown file.
- โณSome linked videos sit behind Coursera or edX enrollment windows, and the README itself flags that a resource can be temporarily unavailable when a class isn't in session.
- โณThe README explicitly excludes JavaScript, HTML, CSS, other front-end technologies, and SQL, so it's not built for full-stack or front-end-heavy interview loops.
- โณThe plan is described in the README as long, possibly months, and the author admits going overboard on personal flashcards wasted real time, so following it without trimming can run longer than a targeted crash course.
- โณThere's no install to test. It's a checklist you read and fork, not runnable software.
Other Resources and Approaches
Frequently Asked Questions
Coding Interview University is released under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license, as listed on its GitHub repository.
Coding Interview University doesn't mandate one language. Its author used C and Python while working through the plan, and separately recommends C++, Java, or Python for the actual interview, noting JavaScript and Ruby can work too if you read up on their caveats first.
The README calls Coding Interview University a long plan that can take months to finish, though the timeline shrinks if you already know parts of the material. The author's own original pass took several months of daily study, but the README says most readers won't need nearly that much time.
Coding Interview University only requires a little existing coding experience, such as familiarity with variables, loops, and functions, plus patience and time. It's built for the software engineering track specifically, not frontend or full-stack development, so total beginners with zero coding background should pick up basic skills first.
Coding Interview University explicitly leaves out JavaScript, HTML, CSS, other front-end technologies, and SQL, since the README frames it as a software engineering study plan rather than a frontend or full-stack one.
Coding Interview University's README frames its content as preparation for a technical interview at nearly any software company, calling out Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft directly. Its creator has said the plan is what led to their own Software Development Engineer job at Amazon.
Who should try it โ and who should skip
Try Coding Interview University if you want one linear checklist that takes you from Big-O basics through system design without assembling your own reading list, especially if you're self-taught or returning to CS fundamentals after years away. Skip it if you need interview prep in the next two or three weeks: the README describes months of daily study, and the explicit exclusion of front-end tech, JavaScript, and SQL means full-stack candidates will need a second resource regardless.
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