My Mistakes while learning Python and how you can avoid those!

This was one of the hardest mistakes to admit but I wasted so much time learning Python for a job search. I first decided I would do a Python tutorial , then do projects and then study leetcode. And I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was probably living in a utopian world and so no wonder, it crashed. And when it did, I was scrambling. So, in 2020, then I finally haphazardly mismashed leetcode, learning Python and essentially doing whatever it took to get a job switch. But after reflecting on my time, while what I did was madness, there was a certain method to it. So, I decided to refine it and in the process , also shared how I did leetcode parallely and also sharing five projects you can make to strengthen the python skills.

RoadMap :

I used Jose Portilla’s Python Bootcamp but there are lots of free resources on youtube and I would encourage you to use those.

Unfortunately substack doesn’t allow to create tables which is really a downer but sharing the roadmap here.

Weeks 1-2: Fundamentals & Array Problems (Days 1-14)

• Python:

  • First I started by focussing on the basics. This involved the below concepts :

    • Basics: syntax, data types, variables, input/output

    • Control Flow: conditionals, loops

    • Data Structures: Lists, Tuples, Dictionaries , Sets

    • Functions & Modules

    • Bit Manipulation Logic

• LeetCode Blind 75

  Arrays/Strings/Hashing/Intervals

  • Two Sum

  • Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock

  • Contains Duplicate

  • Product of Array Except Self

  • Maximum Subarray

  • Maximum Product Subarray

  • Find Minimum in Rotated Sorted Array

  • Search in Rotated Sorted Array

  • 3 Sum

  • Container With Most Water

  Interval Problems

  • Insert Interval

  • Merge Intervals

  • Non-overlapping Intervals

  • Meeting Rooms (Leetcode Premium)

  • Meeting Rooms II (Leetcode Premium)

  Strings

  • Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters

  • Longest Repeating Character Replacement

  • Minimum Window Substring

  • Valid Anagram

  • Group Anagrams

  • Valid Parentheses

  • Valid Palindrome

  • Longest Palindromic Substring

  • Palindromic Substrings

  • Encode and Decode Strings (Leetcode Premium)

• Binary

  • Sum of Two Integers

  • Number of 1 Bits

  • Counting Bits

  • Missing Number

  • Reverse Bits

Weeks 3-4: Intermediate Python & Linked Lists, Trees (Days 15-28)

• Python:

  • After two weeks when I was consistent, I focused on OOPS concepts and learning classes and objects. Also , studied Python Standard Library (collections, itertools)

  • I also focussed on File Handling & Error Handling which was more helpful for projects

• LeetCode Blind 75

  Linked List

  • Reverse a Linked List

  • Detect Cycle in a Linked List

  • Merge Two Sorted Lists

  • Merge K Sorted Lists

  • Remove Nth Node From End Of List

  • Reorder List

  Trees

  • Maximum Depth of Binary Tree

  • Same Tree

  • Invert/Flip Binary Tree

  • Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum

  • Binary Tree Level Order Traversal

  • Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree

  • Subtree of Another Tree

  • Construct Binary Tree from Preorder and Inorder Traversal

  • Validate Binary Search Tree

  • Kth Smallest Element in a BST

  • Lowest Common Ancestor of BST

  • Implement Trie (Prefix Tree)

  • Add and Search Word

  • Word Search II

Matrix :

• Set Matrix Zeroes

• Spiral Matrix

• Rotate Image

• Word Search

Weeks 5-6: Advanced Python & Graphs, Dynamic Programming (Days 29-42)

• Python:

  • This is when I focussed on more advanced topics like Generators, Comprehensions to write better code and show my mastery in python.

    How I did it is by finishing the code in a normal for loop and then optimizing it by using List Comprehensions and so on. Over time, I developed a habit of using them properly.

  • Introduction to Recursion and Dynamic Programming

• LeetCode Blind 75

  Dynamic Programming :

  • Climbing Stairs

  • Coin Change

  • Longest Increasing Subsequence

  • Longest Common Subsequence

  • Word Break Problem

  • Combination Sum

  • House Robber

  • House Robber II

  • Decode Ways

  • Unique Paths

  • Jump Game

  Graphs

  • Clone Graph

  • Course Schedule

  • Pacific Atlantic Water Flow

  • Number of Islands

  • Longest Consecutive Sequence

  • Alien Dictionary (Leetcode Premium)

  • Graph Valid Tree (Leetcode Premium)

  • Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph (Leetcode Premium)

• Heaps

  • Merge K Sorted Lists

  • Top K Frequent Elements

  • Find Median from Data Stream

Week 7: Consolidation & Review (Days 43-45)

• Review Python fundamentals and advanced concepts.

• Revise solutions to previously solved Blind 75 problems.

• Practice mock interviews and optimize coding solutions.

5 Projects You can solve using Python and show in your Resume

Python PayPal Braintree Drop-In Implementation

Python Flask Stripe Tutorial

Using Twilio for Python Flask Messaging App