Udemy’s course “Master the Coding Interview: Data Structures & Algorithms” is a bestseller on the platform (190,000+ students have gone through it) — and it has maintained an almost perfect rating of 4.7 / 5.
Let’s have a detailed look at this training so you can decide if it’s right for you.
Is Udemy even good for coding interviews, though?
The coding prep at Udemy offers a simple, straightforward way to learn the main topics you’ll encounter in your interview. You’ll still want to be using the course alongside other resources and forms of practice – but the fundamentals it equips you with will play a big part in winning your coding interview.
How long will it take to go through the course?
The course contains 22 modules with almost 20 hours of video lessons and 53 articles. How long it’ll take you to complete depends on the work you’re doing to create the solutions.
- If you only consume the content, you can be done within a week.
- If you practice for an hour or more per day using the course material, it should take you between one and two months.
Who’s teaching it?
Andrei Neagoie is the founder of Zero to Mastery Academy and has taught almost a million students on Udemy alone, with an instructor rating of 4.6 / 5.
Quick Pros & Cons
| + You can learn the fundamentals at an affordable price compared to other coding interview prep platforms (most of them require a monthly fee) | – Lacks a Leetcode-style, extensive library of code challenges & coding environment to practice questions |
| + Covers the most important basics of Data structures & Algorithms | – The instructor is doing the solutions only in JavaScript (but often linking to solutions in other languages) |
| + Includes non-technical interview questions and general tips | – Some DSA’s like Heaps and Quick Sort & Greedy Algorithms are missing |
The features of Udemy’s coding interview prep course
Let’s see what you'll get from the course in exchange for a small investment.
Good instructional videos and a clear structure
Andrei presents the information well, in a way that’s easy to follow. And the modules are laid out in a logical way, so you can work your way through one topic after another.
Private online student community
As a coding prep student you can be part of one of ZTM’s communities that’s specific to this course. It’s helpful to be able to discuss any concepts you’re learning or exercises you’re struggling with, as well as get feedback on your own solutions.
Lifetime access
Unlike other interview preparation programs, once you’ve purchased the Udemy course, you get to keep it forever. No monthly or yearly subscription necessary to retain access.
Excellent refund policy
Should you end up not liking the training after all (or change your mind about a career in coding), you can ask for a full refund within 30 days of your payment. Unless you’ve already completed most of the lessons, you’ll get your money back without having to give a lengthy explanation.
Topics covered
This is exactly what’s inside Master the Coding Interview at Udemy:
How to get more interviews
I liked how the course starts out with tips for optimizing your resume, improving your developer portfolio, and when and where to hunt for jobs. This makes it into more than just Computer Science fundamentals/DSA training, and a more complete prep course. Pay special attention to the job-hunting & non-technical parts, because—as has been an important part of my message over the years—they do make or break your ability to get the best job for yourself.
Data structures
7 out of 8 data structures asked in coding interviews are covered: Arrays, Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues, Hash tables, Trees and Graphs (but not Heaps). Each is covered in 9 to 21 lectures with 30 to 96 minutes of instructional video.
Algorithms
Inside Master the Coding Interview, you’ll learn the following Algorithms: Sorting, Searching (Depth-&Breadth-First Search), Graph & Tree Traversal, Recursion and Dynamic Programming (but not Hashing Algorithms).
The behavioral part of coding interviews
In almost an hour of video lessons plus several exercises, you’ll prepare for the most frequently asked “cultural fit” and career experience questions asked during the non-technical part of Software Engineering interviews.
Negotiating an offer
Similarly, the instructor gives you advice on how to negotiate your offer or a potential raise. You’ll also learn how to handle multiple offers, as well as the other extreme—getting rejected from a job.
Bonus: FAANG interview questions
To prepare you for an interview at Google, Facebook or Amazon, you also get a bunch of coding/interview questions most commonly asked at those companies.
Final verdict – is the Udemy coding interview course worth it?
Udemy’s Master the Coding Interview is a good option for studying the fundamentals of data structures and algorithms, as well as the non-technical aspects of programming interviews.
Especially if you’re looking to not spend too much money on any one interview preparation resource, this course could be for you. It’s perfect if you learn well with visual material, because most of the content is in video format.
Some caveats to consider are that this is a basic course (you need additional resources if you’d like to dive deeper), there’s no big library of code challenges (nor a feature to solve problems right on the platform), and that the instructor is using JavaScript for his demonstrations (with other languages provided as external links).
If those aren’t dealbreakers for you, I’d suggest giving Master the Coding Interview a try — with Udemy’s 30-day money-back guarantee, you won’t be taking a financial risk if you do.
Alternatives
After reading this review, there’s a chance you’d prefer to keep looking for another platform to prepare for your coding interview. I’ve covered many coding interview courses on this site — here are two of the most relevant alternatives to Udemy’s program:
Interview prep with Codecademy
Udemy vs Codecademy
When comparing Udemy with Codecademy, Udemy is ahead when it comes to the instructional videos, and pricing. Codecademy shines with its interactive learning environment, offering a motivating step-by-step structure and a built-in code editor. In my view both courses are worth the money, and which one you should choose depends on your preferred learning style.
Interview Cake
Interview Cake is one of the most well-rounded code interview prep sites. It does go deeper into most topics than Udemy — but this is reflected in its much higher price (and it’s only available as a 3-month or yearly subscription). There’s also no videos inside Interview Cake, so the same conclusion regarding learning preference applies as with Codecademy vs Udemy.
