interview-problem-bank

A specialized skill for curating, organizing, and recommending coding interview problems, with support for company-specific preparation, pattern-based practice, and progress tracking.

Purpose

Provide a comprehensive interview problem bank with:

• Problems organized by FAANG company and difficulty
• Pattern-based categorization (Blind 75, NeetCode 150, etc.)
• Difficulty progression recommendations
• Coverage tracking and weak area identification
• Premium problem alternatives

Capabilities

Core Features

1. Problem Organization

   • By company (Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, etc.)
   • By pattern (Two Pointers, Sliding Window, DP, etc.)
   • By difficulty (Easy, Medium, Hard)
   • By topic (Arrays, Trees, Graphs, etc.)
   • By frequency (most asked in interviews)

2. Curated Problem Lists

   • Blind 75 (essential problems)
   • NeetCode 150 (expanded essential list)
   • LeetCode Top Interview Questions
   • Company-specific top questions
   • Pattern-specific problem sets

3. Progress Tracking

   • Problems solved by category
   • Weak area identification
   • Time spent per problem type
   • Success rate tracking
   • Spaced repetition for review

4. Recommendations

   • Next problem based on progress
   • Problems to strengthen weak areas
   • Company-specific practice plans
   • Time-based study schedules

Problem Lists

Blind 75

The essential 75 problems covering all major patterns:

Category	Count	Topics
Arrays & Hashing	9	Two Sum, Group Anagrams, Top K Frequent
Two Pointers	5	Valid Palindrome, 3Sum, Container with Water
Sliding Window	6	Best Time to Buy Stock, Longest Substring
Stack	7	Valid Parentheses, Min Stack, Daily Temperatures
Binary Search	7	Search Rotated Array, Find Minimum
Linked List	11	Reverse LL, Merge Lists, Detect Cycle
Trees	15	Invert Tree, Max Depth, Level Order
Tries	3	Implement Trie, Word Search II
Heap/Priority Queue	7	Merge K Lists, Top K Frequent
Backtracking	9	Subsets, Permutations, Combination Sum
Graphs	13	Number of Islands, Clone Graph
Dynamic Programming	12	Climbing Stairs, House Robber, Coin Change
Greedy	8	Maximum Subarray, Jump Game
Intervals	6	Merge Intervals, Meeting Rooms
Math & Geometry	8	Rotate Image, Set Matrix Zeros
Bit Manipulation	7	Single Number, Number of 1 Bits

NeetCode 150

Extended list with 150 problems for comprehensive preparation:

• All 75 Blind 75 problems
• 75 additional problems for deeper coverage
• More advanced problems per category

Company-Specific Lists

Company	Focus Areas	Top Patterns
Google	Problem solving, optimization	Arrays, DP, Graphs
Meta	Arrays, Trees, System Design	Binary Trees, Arrays
Amazon	OOP, System Design, Leadership	Trees, BFS/DFS
Apple	iOS/macOS, algorithms	Arrays, Trees
Microsoft	Coding, System Design	DP, Arrays, Graphs
Netflix	Distributed Systems	Graphs, DP

Usage

Get Recommended Problems

# Get next problem based on progress
interview-problem-bank recommend --user progress.json

# Get problems for specific pattern
interview-problem-bank list --pattern "dynamic-programming" --difficulty medium

# Get company-specific problems
interview-problem-bank company --name google --count 50

Track Progress

# Mark problem as solved
interview-problem-bank solve --problem "two-sum" --time 15 --attempts 1

# Get progress report
interview-problem-bank progress --user progress.json

# Identify weak areas
interview-problem-bank analyze --user progress.json

Generate Study Plan

# Generate 4-week study plan
interview-problem-bank plan --weeks 4 --target google --level intermediate

# Generate daily practice set
interview-problem-bank daily --count 3 --user progress.json

Output Schema

Problem Entry

{
  "id": "two-sum",
  "title": "Two Sum",
  "difficulty": "Easy",
  "patterns": ["Arrays", "Hash Table"],
  "companies": ["Google", "Amazon", "Meta", "Apple", "Microsoft"],
  "frequency": 95,
  "url": "https://leetcode.com/problems/two-sum/",
  "premiumAlternative": null,
  "hints": [
    "Use a hash table for O(1) lookup",
    "Store complement as key, index as value"
  ],
  "timeToSolve": {
    "target": 10,
    "beginner": 20,
    "expert": 5
  },
  "relatedProblems": ["3sum", "4sum", "two-sum-ii"]
}

Progress Report

{
  "user": "user123",
  "totalSolved": 150,
  "byDifficulty": {
    "Easy": 50,
    "Medium": 80,
    "Hard": 20
  },
  "byPattern": {
    "Arrays": { "solved": 25, "total": 30 },
    "DP": { "solved": 15, "total": 25 },
    "Graphs": { "solved": 10, "total": 20 }
  },
  "weakAreas": ["Graphs", "Advanced DP", "Tries"],
  "recommendations": [
    { "problem": "course-schedule", "reason": "Strengthen Graphs" },
    { "problem": "word-break", "reason": "Practice DP" }
  ],
  "streak": 15,
  "lastPracticed": "2025-01-24"
}

Study Plan

{
  "duration": "4 weeks",
  "target": "Google",
  "level": "intermediate",
  "schedule": [
    {
      "week": 1,
      "focus": ["Arrays", "Strings", "Two Pointers"],
      "problems": [
        { "day": 1, "problems": ["two-sum", "valid-anagram", "contains-duplicate"] },
        { "day": 2, "problems": ["best-time-to-buy", "max-subarray", "product-except-self"] }
      ]
    },
    {
      "week": 2,
      "focus": ["Sliding Window", "Stack", "Binary Search"],
      "problems": [...]
    }
  ]
}

Pattern-Based Organization

Array Patterns

Pattern	Key Problems	Technique
Two Pointers	3Sum, Container with Water	Converging pointers
Sliding Window	Longest Substring, Min Window	Expand/contract window
Prefix Sum	Subarray Sum Equals K	Cumulative sum
Kadane's	Maximum Subarray	Track max ending at i

Tree Patterns

Pattern	Key Problems	Technique
DFS Recursive	Max Depth, Path Sum	Recursion
BFS Level Order	Level Order Traversal	Queue
Construct Tree	Build from Preorder/Inorder	Divide and conquer

Graph Patterns

Pattern	Key Problems	Technique
BFS Shortest Path	Word Ladder	Level-by-level
DFS Connected Components	Number of Islands	Visit all nodes
Topological Sort	Course Schedule	Kahn's algorithm
Union Find	Number of Connected	DSU

DP Patterns

Pattern	Key Problems	Technique
1D Linear	House Robber, Climbing Stairs	dp[i] depends on dp[i-1], dp[i-2]
2D Grid	Unique Paths, Min Path Sum	dp[i][j] from neighbors
String DP	Edit Distance, LCS	dp[i][j] for substrings
Knapsack	Coin Change, Partition	Include/exclude item

Integration Options

MCP Server

InterviewReady MCP Server:

# Access curated interview content
npm install -g interviewready-mcp-server

External Resources

• Tech Interview Handbook
• Coding Interview University
• FAANG Coding Interview Questions
• neerazz/FAANG
• Interviews (kdn251)

Integration with Processes

This skill enhances:

• faang-interview-prep - Structured FAANG preparation
• mock-coding-interview - Problem selection for mocks
• interview-problem-explanation - Explaining solutions
• skill-gap-analysis - Identifying weak areas

Interview Preparation Timeline

1 Week Preparation

Focus on high-frequency problems:

• Day 1-2: Arrays and Strings (15 problems)
• Day 3-4: Trees and Graphs (10 problems)
• Day 5-6: DP and Backtracking (10 problems)
• Day 7: Review and mock interview

1 Month Preparation

Comprehensive coverage:

• Week 1: Fundamentals (Arrays, Strings, Hash Tables)
• Week 2: Data Structures (Trees, Graphs, Heaps)
• Week 3: Algorithms (DP, Backtracking, Greedy)
• Week 4: Review, mock interviews, weak areas

3 Month Preparation

Deep mastery:

• Month 1: All Easy + Medium fundamentals
• Month 2: Advanced Medium + Hard problems
• Month 3: Company-specific + mock interviews

References

• Blind 75 List
• NeetCode
• Sean Prashad's LeetCode Patterns
• Tech Interview Handbook
• InterviewReady MCP

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Resolution
PROBLEM_NOT_FOUND	Problem not in database	Search by alternate name
PREMIUM_LOCKED	LeetCode premium required	Use alternative problem
INVALID_COMPANY	Company not recognized	Check supported companies
PROGRESS_LOAD_FAILED	Cannot load progress file	Initialize new progress

Best Practices

1. Quality over quantity - Understand solutions deeply
2. Pattern recognition - Group problems by pattern
3. Time yourself - Practice under interview conditions
4. Review regularly - Spaced repetition helps retention
5. Mock interviews - Practice explaining solutions
6. Company research - Focus on company-specific patterns