A few weeks ago I quit my job at a well-regarded company here in NYC so I could focus on interview prep. I was burnt out and not happy with my day-to-day, and I have enough money saved to last a year without working, so I figured why not.

I've been slowly grinding leetcode problems (3-5 per week) since August, but I am now dedicating 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, to interview preparation. I'd like to cap things at 4 hours, because I also want to recover from burnout from my previous job.

My current schedule is:

1. Go for a morning walk
2. 9:00AM - 10:00AM: Practice problem on leetcode
3. 10:15AM-11:15AM:  Practice problem on leetcode
4. Break for gym
5. 1:30PM - 2:30PM: Practice problem on leetcode
6. 2:45PM - 3:45PM: Study/Practice System Design

Note that when I practice leetcode, I code and test by hand in sublime before testing in Leetcode. TBH I usually have a couple tiny bugs to fix, so I am hoping to improve this.

Considering I have no other big obligations right now, I think this is a fairly sustainable schedule.

My hope is that within 6-8 weeks I will be ready for FAANG interviews. With 3 problems a day, 6 days a week, that will put me somewhere in the range of [108, 144] problems solved within 6-8 weeks. Add that to the ~40 questions that I did less intensely since August, that puts me in a good spot I think.

I'd like to get everyone's advice about how I could potentially optimize my schedule. Right now I'm following the "Blind 75" list of questions, tracking which ones I struggle with so I can come back to them later, as well as how difficult I found each one. Currently I am somewhat confident solving medium questions, but not as consistent as I'd like to be. If I finish a problem before the hour is up, I will either try to squeeze in another problem, or study some theory around the problem. If I fail a problem, I spend time learning about the solution and identifying where I went wrong.

Does anyone have any advice on how to optimize my schedule? For example - would it be better to do 2 problems a day instead of 3, and instead spend that hour working through the CLRS algorithms book? Any advice is greatly appreciated.