how do I improve my dsa and system design

I always try to practice as much as I can. I believe and understand that the concepts I am touching/ brushing up is what needs to be done instead of the number of problems I solved. But at the same time I always feel under prepared. I don't feel confident that I have covered much and is enough for the interviews. What should be the strategy to deal with it?

Hi folks, I recently got laid off from a startup where 50% of the engineering team was let go. I was working as an SDE and during a restructuring, my role was changed to SDE-2 without any increase in pay or responsibilities. I have a total of 2.5 years of experience. In my first company (where I worked for a year), there weren't many projects, so I didn't have the opportunity to learn or code much. However, in my second company, I primarily worked on the backend using Go, Django, Kafka, MongoDB, & PostgreSQL. I realize that although I gained exposure in my second job, I didn't delve deeply into the technologies. I mainly focused on completing business tasks quickly, learning new things just to finish the task at hand, without solidifying my understanding afterward. My experience seems suitable for an SDE-2 role, but I'm unsure if I can perform the role with complete honesty and may struggle. Some friends in similar situations reassure me that this struggle is common in SDE-2 roles. However, I feel I might be better off starting again as an SDE-1, focusing on my weak areas, and aiming for a promotion later. There are very few SDE-1 job openings currently. I am actively interviewing for SDE-2, and not able to clear system design interviews. Tbh, I feel very humiliated as when I am not able to answer their questions it feels like I am wasting their time or they would be thinking: Oh this guy has been working for so long and doesn't even know anything. Now I get it why people think Indian Software engineers are not that good in comparison to other countries' devs: the reason is people like me. This realization burdens me with guilt, occupying my thoughts constantly. However, I am confident that I can crack SDE-1 easily. I have good DSA & good enough LLD, &HLD skills for SDE1. I am looking for companies who can match my prev Salary: 22 L, 2 Bonus. Can u help how to navigate this career situation effectively without increasing my guilt or feeling constantly humiliated?

I could solve general problems from arrays, trees, sorting and all. I would fail miserably when the interview goes in the direction of DP problems. After a point I realised it actually doesn’t matter, you will find enough places where you are valued for your skills. Been a person who was on the both sides of the table, more on the side taking interviews. I realised one thing how many of us end up writing those fancy TSP code or backtracking etc day in day out. Almost most of the code we write is in some form a version of CRUD and its a reality. Someone getting hired in google is not going to be assigned to improve their search algorithm. I know a lot of ppl who joined and left google because they were not getting to work on meaningful stuff. I ask real life programming stuff and I try to judge based on that, I want to see given a real scenario how the candidate thinks rather then knowing how good the person is in solving some DP problem. Some ppl can write real good code without realising that they are actually using the best practices and design patterns and not remembering the patterns name, it sometimes just comes naturally

Hey all, I feel so shit at the moment. I’ve failed 8-10 interviews so far, out of job since a year. It seems like every interview they ask a totally different set of questions or scenarios. Whatever I prepare gets me maybe 50-60% of the way, rest are all new questions and I fuck up or I’m not able to fully give them an answer. What makes me feel even worse is that, lot of people aren’t even getting calls at the moment and here I am speed-running every single opportunity to failure. I’m so done at the moment. No idea how to proceed or what to prep.

As a Software Engineer with 6+ years of experience, can you guys please guide me on preparation for DSA. Consider my current knowledge about DSA 0. How should I start? Approx how much time it will take? How should I know what topics are more frequently asked at my level? Any DSA plan for 0 to hero in DSA? Apart from DSA I’m also preparing for HLD and LLD and I’d love to have recommendations from you folks about how to prepare these and where to prepare these from? Also, if I’m missing something in my prep do let me know

I am a 2YOE software engineer, and I wanted to make a switch. Having a grip on DSA but can't rely on it. I am seeing a good number of folks getting into start ups get paid well too. Can someone comment on startups that are paying well but require less grinding. Open for comments and views. Thanks

I just think we should skip DSA rounds for existing FAANG employees. I understand the importance of DSA rounds and is pretty much required for SDE 1 roles as their major work is to code. But for higher levels, it starts becoming less and less relevant and pointless. In most companies DSA is to understand the basics of the candidate, can they write code, explain the problem and thought process. Now most FAANG interviewers look for the same thing. Now once I have cleared one that means I have proved myself to be someone who meets the bar, doing it again is just like "Well, have you continued grinding leetcode after getting the job". You can check design competencies, problem solving in design, mentoring etc. but why ask DSA and go through that gruelling interview process. Your thoughts?

Hi Everyone, I'm trying for a job in bangalore for over 6 months now, was suffering from anxiety attacks so started taking medicine. People laid off way later than me have started with their new jobs and are happy yet I'm still struggling here looking for a job, they are getting hikes and I'm just looking to get hired. Is it time that I should give up engineering and pursue other domains?? Because Engineering used to excite me and how my luck has treated me and how much unnecessary problems I'm facing, I'm doubting if I should give up now. I want to know the honest opinion. I ve been upskilling and coding , but not getting any interview https://drive.google.com/file/d/17QsEHqFySTsYyu7ML_sNpykeWuHNFsPk/view?usp=sharing my resume

Hey everyone, I'd like to hear your thoughts. Have any of you successfully aced an interview solely through tutorials, YouTube, or side projects without hands-on work experience? I am a SDET exploring a transition to SDE role, internally tried within my company ,not happening due to various reasons, hence trying to switch over. In order to achieve that, I've worked on full-stack sidd projects, practiced DSA, and made a good "tailored" CV that gets me interview calls. But I am currently facing mixed experiences in interviews. I am able to answer a few but struggle with some questions and seek advice on how to improve. Any suggestions for this career switch are greatly appreciated! Thanks a ton