Certificate

# DSA certificate - outline

## Part 1 - timed problem set (120 min)

Six problems across these categories. You may use an IDE, but no AI tools.

1. Arrays + two pointers (easy)
2. Hashing + sliding window (medium)
3. Trees + recursion (medium)
4. Graphs - BFS or DFS (medium)
5. Dynamic programming (medium-hard)
6. Design - LRU cache or rate limiter (medium)

Grading: correctness, complexity, code clarity. Time and space must be stated.

## Part 2 - one mock interview (60 min)

A live problem with a human interviewer. You will be assessed on:

- Clarifying questions before coding
- Brute force first, then optimise
- Talking through trade-offs
- Edge cases and tests

## Part 3 - system design discussion (45 min, optional distinction)

A small system: a feed, a key-value store, a chat. Discuss:

- Data model and access patterns
- Scaling axes - read vs write, hot keys, geography
- Failure modes and what they cost
- One thing you would do differently

## Preparation

- Solve 50 problems across the patterns from the bootcamp
- Time yourself - the gap from solvable to solvable-in-45-min is real
- Reread your last five solutions weekly - patterns become reflex

// /certificate/dsa