The Blind 75 is a list of 75 LeetCode problems chosen to cover the main data structures and algorithm patterns that come up in coding interviews. Its author, Yangshun Tay (a former Facebook engineer who also wrote the Tech Interview Handbook), published it as a shortlist for people with limited time. This guide explains what is on the list, how to work through it in about eight weeks, and where it stops being enough.<\/p>\n
The list was shared on the anonymous forum Blind, which is where the name comes from. It is a set of problems, not a course: it does not teach you the techniques, and it assumes you already know the basics of arrays, hash maps, recursion and trees. It leans toward medium problems (roughly 19 easy, 49 medium and 7 hard, by one count on GitHub), and about six of the problems require LeetCode Premium (Alien Dictionary, Graph Valid Tree, Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph, Meeting Rooms, Meeting Rooms II, and Encode and Decode Strings). Free alternatives for those exist on other sites, or you can skip them.<\/p>\n
Yangshun Tay later released Grind 75, a customizable successor that lets you set how many weeks you have and how many hours per week, and draws from a larger pool of problems. If you are starting fresh and want a schedule built for you, Grind 75 is worth a look. The Blind 75 remains popular because it is short and well known.<\/p>\n
Finishing the list does not guarantee an offer. It gives you exposure to the common patterns, which helps you recognize new problems. Interviewers also test communication and handling of problems you have not seen.<\/p>\n
These are the problems in the commonly circulated version of the list, grouped by topic. Some copies of the list differ by a problem or two, so treat the topic counts as approximate.<\/p>\n
You can start the Blind 75 when you can write loops, use lists and dictionaries, and write a simple recursive function in your chosen language without looking things up. If not, spend a few weeks on fundamentals first. Our lessons on hash maps<\/a>, recursion<\/a> and time complexity<\/a> cover the prerequisites. Use whichever language you will interview in; Python is the shortest to write, but Java, C++ and JavaScript are all accepted by most companies.<\/p>\n Do the problems grouped by technique, not in random order. Doing five similar problems in a row is what makes a pattern stick. This plan assumes about 5 to 6 problems a week for the first weeks and 10 later, which adds up to 75; adjust it to your time.<\/p>\nAn 8-week plan, by pattern<\/h2>\n