Technical interviews can feel like a never-ending stream of new problems—until you start seeing the repeatable patterns underneath. Instead of cramming random questions, focus on building a small toolkit you can reliably apply under pressure.
Most interview problems are variations of a few core ideas. When you recognize the pattern, you can:
Here are patterns that show up constantly across companies and levels:
Best for arrays/strings with “contiguous” constraints (e.g., longest substring, minimum window).
Useful for frequency problems, “first unique,” and fast lookups.
Not just for trees/graphs—also grids, states, and shortest transformations.
If the prompt says “minimize the maximum” or “maximize the minimum,” this pattern may apply.
Common when there’s optimal substructure and overlapping subproblems.
dp[i] clearly.Top-K, streaming medians, scheduling, merging sorted lists.
Try this for 2–3 weeks:
During the interview, aim for a consistent structure:
If you’re using VirtualInterview.ai, a great drill is to rehearse the explanation, not just the code—clarity is often the differentiator.
Which interview pattern do you struggle to recognize quickly, and what kind of problems trip you up most?
Love this framing—patterns are the real “transferable skill,” and your 3-line post‑problem summary is an underrated way to make learning stick. A cou...
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