Post updated on April, 15th, 2024
The ability to tackle complex programming problems and solve them by finding non-obvious, witty or simply functional solutions quick enough is one of the core skills for any software developer, and it is often used to evaluate a programmer’s professional level and capabilities. The approach and problem solving skills are what distinguishes a Senior coder from an inexperienced Junior.
And this is not surprising as problem solving is the skill that you slowly develop throughout your career in software development by tackling various kinds of problems that you will inevitably face when working in this field.
Getting better in programming problem-solving is what many developers understandably seek, as this trait will have a direct impact on the pace of your professional progress and career growth from Junior Developer to Senior and further down the career path.
There are multiple ways to get better in solving problems. Here are a few recommendations and ways to level-up this essential meta-skill.
8 Steps to Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills as a Rookie Programmer
1. Make sure you understand the problem
As something to begin with, it is always good to make sure you really understand the problem. One way to check if you understand it or not is to try to explain it in simple terms, either verbally or in writing. If you fail to explain the problem, it means you don't understand it completely. Practising this will help you to see the flaws in your understanding and fix them.
2. Break down the problem into smaller ones
Upon making sure you understand the problem, it would be good to break it down into a number of smaller problems that are easier to solve. If this method of approaching problems of all kinds is strange to you, perhaps it would be a good idea to get familiar with computational thinking, which is a set of problem-solving methods.
3. Plan the solution first
Another good idea would be to develop a solution plan first, instead of attacking the problem right away. You should give yourself time to analyze the problem and process the data. Then try to plan a solution by writing down its steps.
4. Solve programming problems on various preparation platforms
Practicing on various preparation platforms for programmers and programming interviews also will be really helpful in improving your problem-solving skills. Especially if you will use a number of platforms to diversify the problems you are working on as much as possible.
Here are a few platforms that you can use:
One of the most popular tech interview platforms with a huge community and over 1650 problems for you to practice. Supports 14 programming languages including Java.
Besides programming problems, this platform allows you to test yourself in mock interviews, as well as to participate in coding competitions and hackathons.
5. Use CodeGym to practice and learn how to approach programming problems
CodeGym course, with its practice-first approach and over 1200 tasks of different kinds and varying difficulty, also would be a great tool both to train in solving practical problems and learn the basics of dealing with them.
6. Play coding games to practice problem-solving while having fun
Playing popular coding games would be another great way to train your brain to solve programming problems in a fun and exciting environment. This is one of the main reasons CodeGym has so many gamification elements in it. Some other popular coding games that we would recommend include Robocode, Codewars, CodeMonkey, and Elevator Saga.
7. Extend your knowledge of design patterns, algorithms, and data structures
If your problem-solving skills are not very impressive and you often get stuck trying to solve a problem, maybe it would be a good idea to strengthen your theory foundation by diving into some programming-related subjects such as math, data structures, and algorithms. Learning about design patterns would be especially helpful as it allows you to memorize the templates often used to approach certain problems.
8. Get feedback
Finally, getting feedback from real people about your solutions is important. Feedback is one of the most critical factors in your growth as a professional developer in general, as it allows you to identify and fix flaws in your skills and thinking patterns. By the way, feedback and interaction, as a way to boost your progress, is also the reason CodeGym has so many social features and encourages students to use them.
4 Major Applied Programming Techniques for Problem Solving
There are tons of programming tactics to tackle the problem, let’s mention a few, which you might already know about.
1. Debugging
Debugging is the process of finding and fixing errors or bugs in your code/program. Step by step, you need to identify what’s causing the software to behave unexpectedly or incorrectly and then make some corrections to resolve these issues.
Debugging often involves using built-in tools or software debuggers to go through the code line-by-line and uncover where things go wrong.
Simply put: Imagine you're the detective tasked with solving a complex mystery. The software is the story of the movie, but there's a twist — somewhere along the line, things aren't making sense because there are inconsistencies or errors in the plot. As the detective, your job is to meticulously comb through the storyline (the code), gather clues (error messages, incorrect outputs), and interview suspects (review sections of the code) to pinpoint exactly where the plot goes wrong (identify the bug).
Once you've found the culprit (the source of the error), you take steps to 'fix' the plot (correct the code), restoring the story to its intended flow and ensuring that future audiences (users) enjoy a seamless viewing (usage) experience. This methodical investigation helps bring clarity and resolution, allowing the movie (software) to proceed as the director (developer) originally envisioned.
Refactoring is the process of restructuring existing computer code without changing its external behavior. The aim of this technique is to improve the structure of code and make it easier to understand and maintain.
Simply put: if you seek a real-life analogy, refactoring is similar to rearranging a cluttered room. Imagine a messy room with things where they shouldn’t be, so it’s tricky to find the items when you need them. Refactoring is like tidying up the room, organizing items into proper places, and getting rid of unnecessary clutter. The purpose of the room stays the same, the essential items are still there, but the space becomes more functional and pleasant to use. Similarly, refactoring makes code cleaner and more efficient without changing what it does.
This technique is representative of a heuristic approach in general problem-solving. You use simple, efficient rules that were learned during your programming studies and practical experience.
Using data structures and algorithms in programming involves organizing data in efficient ways and applying specific techniques to process this data. Data structures help in storing and organizing data, while algorithms provide step-by-step methods for performing tasks, such as searching or sorting data.
Simply put: think about organizing books in a library. Data structures are like different shelving arrangements you can use (e.g., racks, bins, or piles), each suitable for different kinds of books or space constraints. Algorithms are the methods used to find a specific book or to sort books by genre, author, or title. Just as a well-organized library makes it easier to find and manage books, effective use of data structures and algorithms makes a program efficient and easier to manage.
Read more:
Where to Learn About Data Structures
Where to Learn About Algorithms
Where to Learn About Design Patterns
4. Using Version Control Systems
Using Version Control Systems (VCS) in programming involves managing changes to a project’s codebase over time. It allows multiple developers to work on the same project simultaneously, track revisions, and revert to previous versions if needed.
Simply put: imagine you’re working on a group project with a shared notebook. There are several students who write their project ideas, notes, and drafts in a shared notebook. If someone makes a mistake or wants to see a previous version of their notes, they can flip back pages to review and revise. Similarly, with VCS, developers can go back to earlier versions of their software, see who made changes, and manage multiple versions of the project efficiently, ensuring everyone is always working with the most up-to-date and accurate information.
To wrap it up, here are some additional recommendations on dealing with programming problems from experienced developers and coders.
“Talk to people — find someone who can solve some of those harder ones and see if you understand the solution, and — better yet — understand how you might have come up with that solution in the first place. If it uses that you've never seen before, you need to spend time learning clever algorithms. If it's using ingredients you know in unexpected ways, observe how the problem was translated from its original form to the form that yields to those known ingredients, and repeat. After a few of those rounds you should feel more comfortable approaching hard problems,” recommends Alon Amit, an experienced programmer and Vice President at Intuit.
“You should be solving problems you don’t think you can solve, but don’t be too confident and don’t try solving the hardest problems. You should look for problems by algorithms or tags. When you learn some algorithm, search for some problems that need it and solve them using the algorithm you just learned,” suggests Martin Kocijan, another coding veteran.
But don’t overdo it, spending too much time and energy on solving programming problems may be not very good, warns Jacek Podkanski, a programmer with many years of coding experience from England: “Don’t try to fight it. I made the mistake of solving lots of puzzles on Hackerrank. I only stopped when people started to warn me that if I continued I would seriously damage my employability. Stop before it is too late.”
Getting better in programming problem-solving is what many developers understandably seek, as this trait will have a direct impact on the pace of your professional progress and career growth from Junior Developer to Senior and further down the career path.
There are multiple ways to get better in solving problems. Here are a few recommendations and ways to level-up this essential meta-skill.
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