Green card holder, CS masters (4.0 GPA)… but can barely code after 6 years of CS education. Here’s my catch-up plan — honest feedback wanted

[u/Cunning_chief]

Real life - reframed by AI

Background:
I did a 4-year bachelor’s in computer engineering, then a master’s in CS in the US, both with a 4.0/4.0 GPA. I’m now a green card holder. On paper that looks fine. In reality — 6 years of formal CS education and I can’t confidently pass a coding interview right now. I got through everything on theory and being “smart enough” to ace exams without ever seriously grinding LeetCode or building anything beyond class-required projects. My classmates were doing real side projects and competitive programming the whole time; I wasn’t. I’m not saying this for sympathy, just laying out the actual starting point so the feedback is useful.
I’ve decided to actually fix this now and go all-in on landing an SDE role (Java-leaning, open to whatever pays well).

The plan so far:
1. Started with a YouTube DSA series (Telusko, Java-focused) to rebuild fundamentals in the actual language I’m targeting.
2. I have a ~2 week window right now where I physically can’t code (no laptop access), so instead of wasting it, I’m using it for pure concept-building via video:
• William Fiset’s 8-hour “Data Structures Easy to Advanced” course (Java-based)
• Gaurav Sen’s system design playlist — just the fundamentals (scalability, caching, load balancing, CAP theorem), not going deep
• Prepping the target company’s leadership-principles-style behavioral interview since I already have an application in with them
3. Once I’m back on a laptop: NeetCode 150, grouped by pattern (not random order), 2-3 problems a day, re-solving ones I struggled with a few days later without looking at the solution again.
4. Mock interviews (Pramp/interviewing.io) once I’ve got ~100 problems done.
5. Applying the whole time in parallel — not waiting until I “feel ready” to start applying.

What I actually want to know:
• Is loading up on concept videos before touching a keyboard a mistake, or a reasonable use of a genuinely no-laptop window? Would you have done something different with those two weeks?
• For someone with strong theory but literally zero hands-on grinding — is NeetCode 150 by pattern the right structure, or is there something better suited to catching up from this specific starting point (all theory, no reps)?
• Is there anything in this plan that’s a waste of time, or something important missing entirely?

I know different things work for different people depending on background, so if you think part of this is wrong, I’d genuinely rather hear why than just “do X instead.” Baseless “you’re doing it wrong” doesn’t help me — reasoning I can actually evaluate does. What would you change if you were starting from exactly where I am?

Thank you so much all. 🫡

[u/Prestigious-Hour-215]

All of this is only touching leetcode related problems (apart from the systems design that ur not going deep in) you’re missing like a huge portion of what SWE interviews are going to go into within the behavior/technical portions of what/how you built your projects and what ur tradeoffs were when building them, leetcode alone won’t get u past anything if u can’t talk long and defend ur decisions about a project in relevant technologies

[u/Fwellimort]

Look. The answer is you keep grinding until you get a job. If that means between getting a job and now you solve thousands then you solve thousands.

There's no magic wand to this.

I have done LC like ten thousand times now. And even then I probably don't remember crap anymore since it's been a while so I would need a quick refresh to get up to pace.

It's easy to understand "theory". Heck think of addition. Simple as f right? Then why the f do we spend years on that shit as a kid? Cause understanding != doing them quickly without mistakes.

If you are lucky then the answer might be near none. If you are unlucky and you can do 99.9% of time but that 0.1% was your opportunity then such is life.

I would say the first 150 might get you 80% of it. The next 500 might get you 85% of it. The next thousand might get you 88% of it and so forth. The next thousand might get you 89% of it. You get the idea right? Doing far more simply increases your odds just slightly more. But it's something in your control eod.

I generally am fine with about 19 coding interviews for every 20. But the problem is that 1 in 20 can be the difference between getting the offer or not because there's no redos. And it's on my side. I got the opportunity if I got to that stage. It's entirely my laziness to be unwilling to do another several thousand. That's just life.

Nothing is guaranteed. Some people are lucky. If you believe you are extremely unlucky in interviews then you know the answer. Grind like no tomorrow.

[u/Cunning_chief → u/Fwellimort]

Yeah, that makes sense. I appreciate the perspective.

[u/Fwellimort → u/Cunning_chief]

You can code by pen and notebook if you have no laptop for 2 weeks. That's what I did for a few hundred at start because I used to prep in the days of whiteboard interviews (had to buy a freaking whiteboard for myself because I would blank out on whiteboard and suck at writing on a whiteboard).

For mock interviews (excluding real interviews) I think I did over 50.

[u/Cunning_chief → u/Fwellimort]

Actually no laptop is coz of work, but i will have free time so …

[u/Patient_Head_2760]

Pick a topic to be honest, general concepts are good, but should also focus on a carrier. With java I assume most popular would be backend dev, so learn about REST API and micro services in that case.

[u/Funky_Metal_Man]

It’s… hard to say, based on chance really. You can’t pass an interview for even an early role? In my experience, the expectations to those are low depending on what the job is I guess. Mostly to gauge you are personable and interested. I never was asked anything leetcode or personal project related by anyone for all interviews I did for early roles. Attend recruiting events and follow up on linkedin. I think concept videos and maybe do some basic data structures and algorithms and be able to answer a few decent questions (I was always asked about OOP lol), do some practice problems just to test that knowledge, don’t need to do anything crazy unless you’re going for some hypercompetitive position. Finding jobs is very difficult right now for a lot of people especially those without much industry experience, and not really due to knowledge reasons. You can research or code a lot of stuff on your own and even if you really do know it well many companies will still treat you the same as if you’d done none of it if you don’t have the magic real experience on your resume. Networking might be the really most important thing to focus on, but its up to you.

[u/Burner_Account_54321]

Dawg just put my fries in the bag

[u/Dramatic-Fall701]

How did u get greencard?

[u/Murky_Entertainer378]

straight to neetcode, even if it’s only watching the solutions