Data Structures And Algorithms Q&A and Videos

I've done about 25 ML interviews in the last 3 months. Here's my tips

1. HM interviews are super common. KNOW YOUR WORK IN DEPTH. This is the single biggest tip I can give
   1. Be able to talk for atleast 5-10 minutes about the ML models you choose. You cant just give a high level description
   2. Understand the tradeoffs with the ML model you choose
   3. I think depth is just everything. You need to understand deeply the frameworks you use, the models you choose, the evaluation methods, deployment strategy. How it works under the hood
2. DSA is a must. It's hard to cram DSA, but you get really really far with just a bit everyday. About 30% of interviews have a DSA round onsite. Another 30% might have DSA screening (hackerrank/codesignal). I'm not saying grind leetcode 6 hrs a day but even 1-2 problems consistently everyday adds up a lot! and you dont want to be caught unprepared if u get a DSA interview, you cant push back interviews for a month right now
3. Takehomes/timed take homes are common. Make sure you clearly document and your code is easily reproducible and no steps are missing. e.g. if you did some data preprocessing but its not documented/shown thats bad. The conversion rate on takehomes is pretty high for me so do well on them and treat them seriously. In this interview cycle I've gotten first round interviews for all 6 takehomes i submitted
4. Interviews are 80% luck and 20% skills in this market. Sometimes you just cant help it they might want a golang developer and even if youre a 200IQ java developer they dont care. Transferrable skills are not the same in this market. Sometimes theres just not a fit and dont beat yourself up. You can do everything right and still fail interviews
5. Lower Pay/Lower presitge != Easier Interview. They're just different interviews looking for different things. Don't think that just because an interview is for a less prestigious company it will be easier. I've passed first rounds for roles that pay 3x more and 2 levels higher than ones ive failed.
6. Make sure to go through the JD and note the skills theyre looking for and spend 30 mins being able to insert talking points to highlight those skills

Any other tips anyone would like to add?

Currently, I am only going through Neetcode's roadmap. I have solved 40+ problems.

My process is:

1. Understand problem
2. Try to solve the problem
3. Try for 10 mins
4. If not, go see the solution video
5. Understand the solution and code up the solution
6. Take notes in an excel sheet for revising later

I only read up theory related to the video in case its something I do not know about from before. Only for max 30 mins, so that I do not waste a lot of time reading up. My primary aim is to learn by solving problems.

I am able to solve some problems but I feel I still do not have the intuition for solving new problems.

My questions:

1. Should I be reading up on more theory before I start doing more of the roadmap? Maybe go through Neetcode's courses.
2. Does it simply take solving more problems to build up the intuition?
3. Should I try harder on my own before checking the solution video?
4. How did you build the intuition to solving new problems?

I'm a software engineer with 1 year experience and no degree. I recently got an interview with a Big Tech company for a Full-Stack position. I have the phone screen to do first but I've started studying Leetcode so I'm prepared if it goes forward. I'm honestly not sure what to expect as I haven't done many interviews let alone at Big Tech. What should I expect/what areas should I be focusing on to better improve my chances of passing?