📚 Learning Resources

Curated Study Resources

Best books, courses, websites, and tools for every topic in this interview prep guide. Handpicked for depth and interview relevance.

Data Structures & Algorithms
NeetCode.io ↗
WebsiteAll Levels

The best structured roadmap for LeetCode prep. 150 + 250 problems organized by pattern with video explanations. Start here.

LeetCode ↗
PlatformAll Levels

Industry-standard interview prep platform. Focus on Medium problems. Use filters for company tags when targeting specific companies.

VisuAlgo ↗
ToolBeginner

Animated visualizations of data structures and algorithms. Essential for understanding how sorting, trees, and graphs actually work step-by-step.

Introduction to Algorithms (CLRS) ↗
BookAdvanced

The definitive textbook. Rigorous proofs and analysis. Use as reference for complex algorithms — not as a primary study guide.

CP-Algorithms ↗
WebsiteAdvanced

Comprehensive algorithm reference with implementations. Excellent for graph algorithms, number theory, and competitive programming topics.

Tech Interview Handbook ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

Free, curated guide to the tech interview process — resume, behavioral, coding, system design. Maintained by ex-Meta engineer.

System Design (HLD & LLD)
System Design Primer (GitHub) ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

The most-starred system design resource on GitHub. Covers scalability, CAP theorem, databases, caching, and full design walkthroughs. Free.

Designing Data-Intensive Applications ↗
BookAdvanced

The best book for distributed systems and databases. Covers replication, partitioning, consistency, consensus. Required reading for senior roles.

ByteByteGo ↗
Website / NewsletterIntermediate

By the author of "System Design Interview" books. Beautiful visual diagrams of real systems. Newsletter and YouTube channel are free.

High Scalability ↗
BlogAdvanced

Real architecture case studies from companies like Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp. Learn how production systems actually scale.

Refactoring Guru — Design Patterns ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

Beautifully illustrated guide to all 23 Gang of Four patterns plus refactoring techniques. Best visual reference for LLD and OOP design.

Awesome System Design Resources ↗
GitHubAll Levels

Curated list of system design resources including papers, articles, and courses. Great starting point for structured HLD prep.

TypeScript
TypeScript Official Handbook ↗
DocsBeginner

The authoritative source. Handbook covers everyday types, narrowing, functions, and more. Reference section covers all compiler options.

Total TypeScript (Matt Pocock) ↗
CourseAdvanced

Deep dive into TypeScript by one of the best educators. Free workshops on generics, type transformations, and advanced patterns. Highly recommended.

Type Challenges ↗
PracticeAdvanced

LeetCode-style challenges for TypeScript types. Work through Easy → Hard to master mapped types, conditional types, and infer. Great for interviews.

Execute Program — TypeScript ↗
CourseIntermediate

Spaced repetition learning for TypeScript. Short interactive lessons that test your knowledge over time. Excellent retention method.

Java & Object-Oriented Programming
Effective Java — Joshua Bloch ↗
BookAdvanced

The definitive Java programming guide. 90 items covering best practices for generics, lambdas, concurrency, and serialization. Must-read for Java interviews.

Design Patterns in Java ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

All GoF patterns with Java code examples. Strategy, Observer, Factory, Singleton, Builder — with UML and real-world use cases.

Oracle Java Tutorials ↗
DocsBeginner

Official Oracle tutorials covering all Java fundamentals. Excellent for generics, collections, concurrency utilities, and I/O streams.

Baeldung ↗
BlogIntermediate

Practical Java and Spring tutorials. Deep dives into Java concurrency, streams, optional, and Spring Boot. Great for quick topic lookups.

Kafka & Messaging Systems
Confluent Developer ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

Free Kafka courses by Confluent (Kafka's creators). Covers producers, consumers, Kafka Streams, Schema Registry, and ksqlDB. Best structured learning path.

Kafka: The Definitive Guide ↗
BookAdvanced

Official deep-dive by Confluent engineers. Covers internals, replication, exactly-once semantics, and operations at scale. Free PDF on Confluent website.

Apache Kafka Documentation ↗
DocsAdvanced

Official reference. Use for configuration options, consumer group mechanics, log compaction, and MirrorMaker 2 for multi-region setups.

Databases — SQL, NoSQL & Internals
CMU 15-445 Database Systems ↗
CourseAdvanced

Free CMU database course with full lecture videos. Covers storage engines, B-Trees, query execution, concurrency control (MVCC, 2PL), and recovery (ARIES).

Use The Index, Luke ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

Free guide to SQL query performance and database indexing. Explains B-Tree indexes, composite indexes, index-only scans, and common pitfalls.

MongoDB Manual ↗
DocsIntermediate

Official MongoDB reference. Essential for understanding document model, aggregation pipeline, indexes, transactions, and sharding.

Redis Documentation ↗
DocsBeginner

Redis data types (Strings, Hashes, Lists, Sets, Sorted Sets, Streams), persistence modes, eviction policies, and Pub/Sub patterns.

PlanetScale Blog — Sharding ↗
BlogIntermediate

Clear explanations of database sharding strategies, consistent hashing, and distributed SQL. PlanetScale blog has excellent deep-dives.

Operating Systems & Concurrency
OS: Three Easy Pieces (OSTEP) ↗
Free BookIntermediate

The best free OS textbook. Covers virtualization (processes/memory), concurrency (locks, semaphores, condition variables), and persistence (file systems).

Java Concurrency in Practice ↗
BookAdvanced

The definitive guide to Java concurrency by Brian Goetz. Thread safety, Executor framework, atomic variables, locks, and testing concurrent programs.

Classic Concurrency Problems ↗
ReferenceIntermediate

Study the classic synchronization problems: Producer-Consumer, Dining Philosophers, Readers-Writers. These appear directly in interviews.

Docker & AWS / Cloud
Docker Get Started ↗
DocsBeginner

Official Docker tutorial. Covers containerization concepts, Dockerfile best practices, multi-stage builds, Docker Compose, and networking.

AWS Well-Architected Framework ↗
DocsIntermediate

AWS's five pillars: Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance, Cost Optimization. Essential for architecture design questions.

Kubernetes Tutorials ↗
DocsIntermediate

Official Kubernetes tutorials. Learn Pods, Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, Ingress, and Horizontal Pod Autoscaling.

AWS Geek — Cheatsheets ↗
Visual ReferenceAll Levels

One-page visual cheatsheets for every major AWS service. Perfect for quick review before interviews. Clean, printable diagrams.

Networking & Security
MDN — HTTP ↗
DocsBeginner

Comprehensive HTTP reference. HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, caching headers, CORS, cookies, status codes, and connection management.

OWASP Top 10 ↗
ReferenceIntermediate

The standard for web application security. SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, broken authentication — know all 10 with mitigations for security-focused interviews.

Beej's Guide to Network Programming ↗
Free BookIntermediate

Classic free guide to TCP/IP socket programming in C. Deep understanding of how TCP connections, UDP, and network I/O actually work.

Cloudflare Learning Center ↗
WebsiteBeginner

Excellent articles on DNS, CDN, DDoS protection, TLS/SSL, HTTP/3, and QUIC. Free, well-written, and consistently updated.

Practice Platforms & Mock Interviews
Pramp ↗
PlatformAll Levels

Free peer-to-peer mock interviews for coding, system design, and behavioral. Practice being both interviewer and interviewee. Highly recommended.

interviewing.io ↗
PlatformAdvanced

Anonymous mock interviews with real engineers from top companies. Paid, but free practice interviews available. Great for final prep.

Excalidraw ↗
ToolAll Levels

Free collaborative whiteboard for system design interviews. Practice drawing architectures. Many companies use this or similar tools during virtual interviews.

HackerRank ↗
PlatformBeginner

Common platform for company assessments. Practice SQL challenges, regex, and role-specific tracks. Many companies send HackerRank OAs.

Coding Patterns ↗
WebsiteIntermediate

Identifies the 16 core patterns behind coding interview problems: sliding window, two pointers, fast/slow pointer, merge intervals, and more.

Tech Interview Handbook ↗
GitHubAll Levels

Comprehensive end-to-end guide: resume, behavioral questions, coding, system design, and salary negotiation. Free and open source.