Ask HN: Best way for non CS background dev to go and learn the basics incl math?

3 pointsvirtuexru7y ago2 comments

So luckily I've made great connections throughout the years and have basically moved from job to job without having a real interview.

I recently did a few real interviews just for the fun of it and realized how far I was behind in my CS fundamentals. I excel at my specific domains/languages I use but don't necessarily practice CS fundamentals at all in my day to day.

I picked up Cracking the Coding interview to try and brush up on my skills but have realized that I am way behind in the math department. The first few pages threw me for a loop so bad that I haven't picked it back up.

All the online courses all seem to assume you have the math skills already down and do not go into what/how/why.

I beg of you HN, where should I go to learn the prerequisite math for pursuing a more CS fundamental skill? (For clarity the type of questions I failed in my interviews were around datastructures/design (ie: LRU Cache), Graph Problems, Memory/Time complexity).

Thanks! <3

2 comments

jppope7y ago

In all seriousness grab a text book, given how your career is shaping up you probably have the discipline to knock it out without a problem. I would also recommend "All of Statistics" for when you cross that bridge.

Happy New Year!

virtuexruOP7y ago

That's the thing; not even sure what textbook to start with. Calculus?

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