Hi, I’m Brian, a former senior software engineer and now software engineering mentor at Pathrise. I have helped hundreds of software engineers land their dream job. Check out my article where I compare Interview Cake vs Leetcode.
- Similarities and differences between Interview Cake vs LeetCode
- Topics offered on Interview Cake vs LeetCode
- Prices for Interview Cake vs LeetCode
- Ratings and reviews of Interview Cake vs LeetCode
- Alternatives to Interview Cake vs LeetCode
- How do Interview Cake and LeetCode compare to Pathrise?
Similarities and differences between Interview Cake and LeetCode
Interview Cake and LeetCode are popular software engineering prep tools that people can use to practice for technical interviews.
Similarities
- Users can filter questions by topics such as algorithms and data structures.
- Interview Cake & LeetCode offer actual interview questions from top tech companies, including Google and Microsoft.
- People who are looking for additional support can consult the glossary (Interview Cake) and articles (LeetCode).
- With both programs, people can practice coding in Ruby, C++, JavaScript, and other languages.
- Both provide free and paid resources.
Differences
- With LeetCode, users can participate in mock interview sessions that closely resemble the environment and experience of a technical screen with a tech company.
- LeetCode users are able to filter questions by difficulty, whereas Interview Cake users can sort questions by company.
- Interview Cake offers a full breakdown of each solution, a gotcha list that highlights common mistakes, and a summary of what users learned in each section.
- Companies use LeetCode to find qualified developers through sponsored challenges, leader boards, and discussion sections.
- Those who enroll in the Interview Cake coaching plan receive four 1-on-1 sessions.
Topics offered on Interview Cake and LeetCode
Interview Cake and LeetCode offer questions that cover a number of software engineering topics, including the following and much more:
- Graphs
- Trees
- Arrays
- Logarithms
- Binary search
- Hashing
- Sorting
- Queue
- Linked lists
- Algorithms
- Data structures
Prices for Interview Cake and LeetCode
There are some free resources offered by Interview Cake, but most people upgrade so that they can access all of the solutions and problems. Users can pay $19 for 3 weeks of access (down from $149), or $29 for 3 months (down from $249). The 1-on-1 coaching option costs $4,900 and comes with 4 one-hour sessions and access to the online course for 12 months.
While there are some free resources on LeetCode, a subscription is necessary to fully benefit from the service. Users can choose from the monthly package, which costs $35 per month (down from $39), and the annual package, which runs $159 per year (down from $299). Premium subscriptions include access to additional question and solutions, as well as more accurate company problem sets and question sorting by prevalence.
Ratings and reviews of Interview Cake and LeetCode
In general, online reviews of Interview Cake and LeetCode are positive.
Interview Cake users felt that the variety, style, and depth of the practice questions prepared them well for their technical interviews. In particular, they benefited from the tips and tricks that accompanied each question. But, users recommended that people who do not have a strong background in data structures and algorithms should brush up on those topics before paying for the program so that they can fully benefit from using Interview Cake.
LeetCode is one of the most popular software engineering interview prep tools. Users praised the program for offering a number of questions across a wide range of topics and levels. Others felt like they learned a lot from reading the solution articles and participating in the robust discussion board. Some users benefited from sorting questions by difficulty, as the program allowed them to start with easier questions and work their way up to more advanced topics.
Alternatives to Interview Cake and LeetCode
There are quite a few alternatives to Interview Cake and LeetCode that you can use to prepare for your software engineering technical interview, including:
- A good alternative to Interview Cake and LeetCode is AlgoExpert, which is a platform where software engineers can practice questions that cover a variety of interview topics.
- With tens of thousands of user solutions, Coderbyte hosts an online editor for users to solve questions directly on the platform. Read more about Coderbyte in our review.
- You can also check out CodeChef and Edabit for free online communities and platforms to practice software engineering technical questions.
- Another free resource, HackerRank is a common tool used by companies to evaluate software engineers. They offer practice questions on their platform, which mimics the environment that people will likely be tested in.
- CodinGame, Codewars, and CodeSignal turn interview practice problems into challenges in order to gamify the interview prep experience.
- If you are interested in participating in mock interviews with software engineers at top tech companies, check out Interviewing.io. Read more about Interviewing.io in our program review.
- Those who are looking to conduct mock interviews with their peers can consider Pramp and Gainlo.
- CodeKata provides challenges that mimic requests from real tech companies.
How do Interview Cake and LeetCode compare to Pathrise?
Interview Cake and LeetCode are platforms that offer technical interview preparation services to software engineers. People can practice topics like linked lists and binary search, further their skills in multiple programming languages, receive additional tips for acing their interview, and complete interview questions from actual tech companies.
A full service organization, Pathrise helps software engineers land the best job possible. While we place a great deal of emphasis on technical interview preparation, through industry workshops, pair programming, and 1-on-1 sessions, we also offer guidance on every other step of the job search, including resume & LinkedIn optimization, cold emailing, behavioral interviewing, and salary negotiation. We strongly recommend that fellows in the Pathrise program subscribe to a service like Interview Cake or LeetCode to help them prepare for their upcoming interviews.
Pathrise is a career accelerator that works with students and professionals 1-on-1 so they can land their dream job in tech. With our tips and guidance, we’ve seen our fellows interview scores double.
If you are interested in working 1-on-1 with any of our mentors to optimize your job search, become a Pathrise fellow.
Apply today.
