DSA Interview Roadmap

SDE / Software Engineer

A SDE / Software Engineer interview leans on 306 of the 370 curated problems. The other 64 are lower frequency for this role, still here, just not first.

The broadest DSA bar — trees, graphs, and DP show up most; this is the classic generalist interview loop.

Focus on: 306
Core topics: 10
Deprioritise: 64
Full catalogue: 370

Track your progress on this roadmap: the map fills itself as you solve.

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What this interview looks like

A generalist SDE loop is the widest DSA bar: trees, graphs and dynamic programming show up most, and a round can pull from almost anywhere. Interviewers want the working solution, then the edge cases and the complexity, stated out loud.

What it leans away from

Specialized bit tricks and geometric coordinate calculations rank low for a generalist loop, because a generalist round is judged on the common structures, not on niche arithmetic. That is not absolute: some teams still ask bit operations and interval packing during a specialized round.

Beyond the coding round

This roadmap only orders the DSA problems a SDE / Software Engineer interview draws on. The role itself also expects:

Data StructuresAlgorithmsOOPSystem DesignGitTestingDatabasesREST APIsCachingConcurrencyCloud (AWS/GCP/Azure)

The whole path

CoreRole-specificAdvanced

Phase 1 - DSA Foundation
Arrays34 Strings22 Linked List17 Binary Trees32 BST20 Graph48 Dynamic Programming51 Stack16 Queue4 Binary Search16
Phase 2 - Role Skill Gaps
Backtracking12 Heap13 Two Pointers6 Sliding Window8 Recursion7
Phase 3 - Projects and Interview Proof
Math11 Bit Manipulation11 Trie9 Intervals5 Matrix6 Sorting7 Greedy15

Phase 1 - DSA Foundation

The curation places 10 core topics first for this role, leading with practice problems.

01ArraysCore
34 problemsVisualize
Two Sum Min and Max in Array Reverse Array Contains Duplicate Read the theory
02StringsCore
22 problemsVisualize
Valid Palindrome Valid Anagram Find the Index of the First Occurrence in a String Longest Common Prefix Read the theory
03Linked ListCore
17 problemsVisualize
Reverse Linked List Linked List Cycle Merge Two Sorted Lists Middle of the Linked List Read the theory
04Binary TreesCore
32 problemsVisualize
Binary Tree Inorder Traversal Binary Tree Preorder Traversal Binary Tree Postorder Traversal Maximum Depth of Binary Tree Read the theory
05BSTCore
20 problemsVisualize
Two Sum IV - Input is a BST Floor in BST Ceil in BST Kth Largest in BST Read the theory
06GraphCore
48 problemsVisualize
Flood Fill Number of Islands Clone Graph Course Schedule Read the theory
07Dynamic ProgrammingCore
51 problemsVisualize
Climbing Stairs N-th Tribonacci Number Coin Change Longest Increasing Subsequence Read the theory
08StackCore
16 problemsVisualize
Valid Parentheses Next Greater Element I Min Stack Evaluate Reverse Polish Notation Read the theory
09QueueCore
4 problemsVisualize
Implement Queue using Stacks Implement Stack using Queues Stream First Non-repeating Sliding Window Maximum Read the theory
10Binary SearchCore
16 problemsVisualize
Binary Search Search Insert Position Sqrt(x)Implement Lower Bound Read the theory

Phase 2 - Role Skill Gaps

The curation balances theory and practice equally across these role-specific topics to complete the 306 focus problems.

11BacktrackingRole-specific
12 problemsVisualize
Read the theory Subsets Subsets II Combination Sum Combination Sum II
12HeapRole-specific
13 problemsVisualize
Read the theory Kth Largest Element in a Stream Last Stone Weight K Closest Points to Origin Task Scheduler
13Two PointersRole-specific
6 problemsVisualize
Read the theory Valid Palindrome II Move Zeroes Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array Squares of a Sorted Array
14Sliding WindowRole-specific
8 problemsVisualize
Read the theory Minimum Size Subarray Sum Fruit Into Baskets Number of Substrings Containing All Three Characters Max Consecutive Ones III
15RecursionRole-specific
7 problemsVisualize
Read the theory Fibonacci Number Flood Fill (Recursion)Factorials of Large Tower Of Hanoi

Phase 3 - Projects and Interview Proof

The curation pushes 64 problems down for this role, so understanding the theory is the goal here.

16MathAdvanced
11 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems
17Bit ManipulationAdvanced
11 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems
18TrieAdvanced
9 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems
19IntervalsAdvanced
5 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems
20MatrixAdvanced
6 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems
21SortingAdvanced
7 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems
22GreedyAdvanced
15 problemsVisualize
Read the primerunderstanding is the goal here rather than grinding problems

Ready to actually walk this path?

Every topic above links to real problems, step-by-step pattern visualizers, and an in-browser compiler. Your progress tracks automatically as you solve.

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SDE / Software Engineer DSA questions, answered

How many DSA problems does a SDE / Software Engineer need to solve?

About 306 of the 370 curated problems. Those sit in the 10 topics a SDE / Software Engineer interview leans on; the remaining 64 are lower frequency for this role and are worth doing later rather than first.

Which DSA topics matter most for a SDE / Software Engineer?

Arrays, Strings, Linked List, Binary Trees, BST, Graph and others: the core tier for this role. Topic priority is mapped per role rather than shared, so a SDE / Software Engineer path deliberately differs from a generic sheet order.

Can a SDE / Software Engineer skip some DSA topics?

Deprioritise rather than skip. 64 of the 370 problems are lower frequency for a SDE / Software Engineer, so they belong after the core tier: not never, but not first. Interviews do occasionally reach outside the common ground.

Is this SDE / Software Engineer roadmap free?

Yes. The roadmap, the problem list, the pattern walkthroughs and progress tracking are all free with no signup required to read. Only AI-generated insights are metered.

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Problem set and role mapping as of 11 October 2026.