How to Prepare for Software Engineer Algorithms and Data Structures Interviews: The Resources
Only the classic textbooks for algorithms interviews: one open course and three university textbooks, with no interview prep books.
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This list keeps only the classic textbooks that universities use to teach algorithms, plus one open university course. It leaves out interview prep books and problem lists. Read these textbooks first, and the interview questions will look familiar.
The list has four items in two steps: learn the basics, then keep two reference textbooks on the desk. Pick one item from each step.
Step 1: A course or a textbook teaches you the basics
MIT 6.006 Introduction to Algorithms (Spring 2020). Erik Demaine, Jason Ku, and Justin Solomon taught this course, and MIT OpenCourseWare publishes the lecture videos, notes, problem sets, and exams. Use it if you have not taken an algorithms course, or if your last course was long ago. Watch the lectures and do the problem sets, not only the videos.
Algorithms, 4th Edition (Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne). The booksite links to two Princeton courses on Coursera, Algorithms Part I and Part II. The Coursera page says that all features of the course are free. Use this pair if you like to learn with working code: the book and the course implement each data structure in Java.
Step 2: Two classic textbooks stay on your desk for reference
Introduction to Algorithms, 4th Edition (Cormen, Leiserson, Rivest, and Stein). People call this book CLRS. The MIT Press published the fourth edition on April 5, 2022. Do not read CLRS from cover to cover for an interview. Look up a topic when a lecture or a problem leaves a gap, and read the proof there.
The Algorithm Design Manual, 3rd Edition (Steven Skiena). Springer published the third edition in 2020. The second part of the book is a catalog of common algorithmic problems, and the exercises include job interview problems from software companies. Use the catalog when you know the shape of a problem but not its name.
This post covers coding interviews only. A sister post, “How to Prepare for Software Engineer System Design Interviews: The Resources”, covers the system design interview.
References
- MIT OpenCourseWare — 6.006 Introduction to Algorithms, Spring 2020 — fetched 2026-10-30
- Robert Sedgewick and Kevin Wayne — Algorithms, 4th Edition booksite — fetched 2026-10-30
- Coursera — Algorithms, Part I — fetched 2026-10-30
- The MIT Press — Introduction to Algorithms, Fourth Edition — fetched 2026-10-30
- Springer — The Algorithm Design Manual, third edition — fetched 2026-10-30