It sounds actionable until Tuesday, when you open the tab, don't know what to solve, and close it again feeling worse than if you'd skipped it entirely. A roadmap that actually gets you through four weeks needs three things that "do LeetCode daily" doesn't have: a finish line for each day, real coverage across DSA, behavioral prep, and company research — not just problems — and permission to miss a day without the whole plan collapsing.
The shape below assumes 60–90 minutes on weekdays. Scale the hours to your schedule, but keep the structure — it's the structure doing the work, not the hour count.
Week Overview
| Week | Theme | Success looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Foundations + rhythm | Arrays/hash maps warm; 1 STAR story drafted |
| 2 | Patterns | Sliding window, BFS/DFS reps; 3 stories |
| 3 | Mixed sets + mocks | Timed mediums; 1 mock interview |
| 4 | Polish + company | Weak-topic review; offer-ready stories |
Week 1 — Day-by-Day
Day 1: Set up tracker (spreadsheet or notebook). List 5 target companies. Solve 2 easy array problems. Write one sentence: why you want this role.
Day 2: Hash map / set — 2 easies, 1 medium. Draft STAR story #1 (conflict or ownership).
Day 3: Two pointers — 2 problems. Review yesterday's solutions without looking for 10 minutes.
Day 4: Stack / queue — 2 problems. Company research: product + recent news for target #1 (15 min).
Day 5: Mixed easy review (3 problems timed, 45 min). Refine STAR story #1 out loud once.
Day 6 (optional): Light: 1 problem + rest, or catch-up only.
Day 7: Rest or 20-minute walk. Do not "make up" the whole week in one panic session.
Weeks 2–4 (Compressed)
Week 2: Sliding window, binary search, tree BFS/DFS. Add STAR stories #2–3 (failure + leadership). One behavioral practice aloud.
Week 3: Graphs intro or DP lite (pick based on your level). Two timed sets. One mock (Pramp, interviewing.io, or a friend).
Week 4: Re-solve misses from weeks 1–3. System design lite if relevant (scale a URL shortener / newsfeed — 45 min outline). Finalize 5 stories. Sleep before onsite days.
Daily Session Template (75 min)
- 5 min — open tracker, pick today's finish line
- 45–50 min — problems or mock
- 10 min — write what pattern you used
- 10 min — behavioral or company research
Anti-Patterns Worth Naming
- Jumping to hard problems before the underlying patterns have stuck
- Reading solutions instead of solving — feels like progress, builds nothing
- Ignoring behavioral prep until the night before the onsite
- Tracking a streak instead of tracking which topics are actually weak
Turn This Into Saved Daily Tasks
If you want Week 1 generated to your hours and experience level, use FocusAI's interview prep template — same idea as our learn React and Python roadmaps: concrete steps, not vague study goals.
Compare approaches in AI goal planner apps compared if you are choosing between chat prompts and a persisted plan.
