Detailed Guide to Upskill for Top Product Companies

“An Individual often overestimates what he/she can do in a day and the same individual often underestimates what he/she can do in a year.”

Lucky for you, you wouldn’t really need a whole year for the goal we’re about to discuss here. That’s right, just 8 months of focused efforts with consistency can do wonders for you!

Don’t get us wrong, making it to the MAANGs of the world isn’t really a cakewalk, but at the same time, it’s not really ‘out of the question’ as well.

All you need is the right strategy & a determined will to follow it. And you can make your Dreams a Vivid reality for yourself.

So let’s discuss the detailed plan to crack the top product companies of the world in 8 months :

Month 1: Gaining Command over any one programming language

Since everything that you’ll learn, from DSA to project development will have to be executed in any particular language, it becomes imperative that you master any one language out of these - C++, Java, Python

Things to learn:

1. Hello World program, Variables, Input & Output
2. Conditional statement – if-else, switch statements
3. Loops – for loop, while loop, do while loop, solve some pattern problems
4. Time complexity & functions
5. Basics of classes and objects

Month 2: Problem-solving in DS & Algo - Module I

DSA is an important topic in every technical interview by MAANG companies, you must spend the first month learning about the basics of it.

Topics to cover:

1. Basics of Algorithms + Time Complexities
2. Arrays, Two Pointers, and Sliding Windows
3. Strings
4. Sorting Algorithms

Month 3: Problem-solving in DSA - Module II

Now that you know basic data structures, you can refine your skills further by learning these topics in the second month

1. Recursion
2. Hashing
3. Bit Manipulation
4. Maths Concepts for Coding (Permutations and Combinations, GCD, Modulo Arithmetic, Matrices, etc)

Month 4: Problem-solving in DSA - Module III

Advanced-Data Structures such as stacks, queues, and linked lists are popular choices for technical rounds. You can spend the third month mastering these data structures:

1. Stacks
2. Queues
3. Linked Lists
4. Trees and Tries
5. Heaps

Month 5: Problem-solving in DSA - Module IV

Almost done with DSA! This month, look for the standard algorithms & approaches to solving programming problems.

1. Greedy Algorithms
2. Dynamic Programming
3. Graphs

Month 6: Computer Science Fundamentals

DSA - Done & dusted! Now you are capable of tackling CS Fundamental topics methodically for technical interviews

1. Operating Systems
2. Computer Networks
3. Database Management Systems
4. Object Oriented Programming

Month 7: System Design

System Design questions are always relevant in MAANG interviews, so  make sure to cover them rigorously this month

1. Design Patterns and Schema, UML Diagrams
2. Machine Coding
3. Architecture Design
4. Distributed Systems
5. Load Balancing, Consistent Hashing, Caching
6. Building Real-Life Systems

Month 8: Projects and Wrapping Up!

Now that you will be well versed in all the technical concepts, start building Full Stack projects to display deep & thorough knowledge.

A sample breakdown of this month to learn how to build a project can be:

1. Building Servers and MVC Architecture
2. Web-based Architecture
3. Node.js, MongoDB, React

Conclusion

Now, You’re All Set!

DSA for Problem Solving ✔️

CS Fundamentals ✔️

System Design Concepts ✔️

Projects ✔️

All that you need to work on is revising all the things you learned so far and your soft skills for behavioural and HR Rounds.

In case you want to go through a real-life experience of a Microsoft Interview, check out the Microsoft Interview Experience of Rajat on Linkedin.

In case you need professional guidance during your preparation, do check out our website.