In this article, we will see the important of data structure and algorithms in companies’ interview process, and will learn about most important topics of Data Structure, and see their implementation programmatically.
Data Structure and Algorithms are commonly asked questions in tech interviews. It has significant weightage in interview of leading tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft etc. Whether you are applying for fresh graduates, or junior dev or senior software position, you need to brush up your data structure and algorithms concepts.
Why is Data Structure important?
Data Structures are important as they are used in storing, retrieving, locating data and necessary information. As we have been adopting more and more technology, the need for storing and handling data has increased manifold. It is utmost important that data generated is stored in proper manner, so that cost involved and time required in processing is minimal.
Primitive data structures are simple data types, as available in each programming languages to represent data. These are int, char, String etc.
Non primitive data structures allow us to store multiple values of data in a single variable like linked list, stack, tree etc
The objective of asking data structure questions in interviews is that interviewer want to know whether you are using right tool set to solve a given problem. Data structure and algorithms questions also help interviewer in understanding your thinking process, optimization ability and other important technical aspect which are required in technical job.
List of companies which ask data structure questions in interviews
Some of the most popular tech companies which regularly ask data structure and algorithms questions in their interviews are as listed below.
- Amazon
- Microsoft
- Adobe
- Samsung
- MakeMyTrip
- Zoho
- Paytm
- Flipkart
- Goldman Sachs
- VMWare
- Visa
- Cisco
- Qualcomm
- Directi
- Intuit
Important topics in Data Structure
- Array
- Linked List
- Stack
- Queue
- Binary Tree
- Binary Search Tree
- Heap
- Hashing
- Graph
- Matrix
Important topics in Algorithms
- Sorting Algorithms
- Searching Algorithms
- Finding shortest path
- Breadth First Traversal
- Depth First Traversal
- Recursion
- Tower of Hanoi
- Fibonacci series
- Greedy Algorithm
- Divide and conquer
How to prepare for data structure and algorithms
To prepare for data structure and algorithms, you need to brush up your fundamentals. You can take online course, or read through your standard text book.
Books for data structure and algorithms
We recommend Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest and Stein for reading book for data structure and algorithms. This is standard text book in top colleges like IIT and international universities, and it covers each of data structure and algorithms topic in details.
You many also need to make a list of type of questions asked by different tech companies in this section. About 80% of companies asked questions based on Linked List, Stack, Queue, Graph, Hash table only. But bigger companies like Amazon, Google etc can ask questions on any topic of data structure and algorithms.
Online course for data structure and algorithms
Xamnation is offering online course for data structure and algorithms. This course is specially designed to help candidates brush up the fundamentals, and practice most common questions from data structure and algorithms. This course contains learning material of 30+ high quality videos and ebooks, as well as 50 most commonly asked questions in data structure and algorithms. This course is designed by team of IIT graduates who have work experience from top tech companies like Google, Amazon etc.
To know more on this course, you can contact us at rakesh@xamnation.com