K-man's Blog

A Script for the Algorithm | Data Structure Coding Interview

Disclaimer: This post deals with the traditional “coding” interview where the focus is on solving one or more coding problems. I have interviewed in a double-digit number of companies from India, the US, and Europe and this post is a culmination of those experiences. This is the stable, generic approach I use in my interviews. Interviews have certain aspects of randomness due to factors like the company you’re interviewing for, the interviewer, job role etc. Despite this, there are certain steps you can take which will help the interviewer judge…read more

Jan.25

Wormsign

Posted by Khushman Patel in best, note, random

We have this saying “Upar wala jab bhi deta, deta chappar fad ke”: Whenever god gives us something, he gives it to us in heaps. In my case though, it’s usually been the opposite. My greatest moments of happiness, accomplishment, and peace have always been conjoined with my worst mistakes, failures, and turmoil. After my biggest success ever in 2020: finding stability and standing on my own feet, I also subsequently proceeded to do the shittiest thing I have ever done (sorry Wish and Youhou). I betrayed the trust of…read more

Dec.03

Train your AI’s, people!

Posted by Khushman Patel in best, tech

The world of information is big and scary. It has beautifully illuminated corners, while also rumoring about niches where if you wander in by mistake, and choose to struggle on, you’re greeted by mountains of incomprehensible terminology, and sentences of slippery schrodingerish meanings which seem to elude you while being right within your grasp. For many people, they face this monster at the bright young age of Math, while some face it when colliding with an unknown territory far into the future. But over time I have realized that there…read more

May.14

Compress and Distress

Posted by Khushman Patel in best, poem

Audio added to provide rhythm to the poem: There lived a man alone at home, We shall just call him X. And in his house there lived two ghosts, Called compress and distress. The man he thought he was healthy But burdened under stress. For the ghosts like tapeworms sucked through him His spirit and creative best. He lived a life full of fire And ashes and duress. But he thought he had let them go At therapist’s behests. He knew he was a being still played It was…read more

Aug.06

90’s kids

Posted by Khushman Patel in best, note, random, wisdom

90’s kids are a generation of nostalgia. So much technological advancement happened in such a rapid timeframe when we were growing up, that we clearly remember now-obsolete tech. We’ve grown from a huge-ass landline to a computer more powerful than we can imagine in our pocket. It is a major thing. And it sparks nostalgia for our seemingly “simple” childhoods because all this development skews our mental timeline to make it seem farther back than it was. Our childhood wasn’t technology based! We grew up with chalk, bows and arrows…read more

Apr.09

Living with Sloth

Posted by Khushman Patel in poem, wisdom

Death by Sloth is the best, innit? It’s comfortable and negligible by the minute. Who cares what it might add up to, When you can lay now, and simply not do. Death by Sloth is so easy, innit? It’s beguiling arms ain’t got no limit. As you gently find your comfortable lay, It’s tendrils wrap and make you stay. Death by Sloth is so subtle, innit? It raises no hue, no cry, no gimmick! It’s veil is time and stealth and care, As it lodges within our minds bare. Death…read more

Feb.07

Why I love social media

Posted by Khushman Patel in poem, random

We live in our phones. Forgetting the warmth of our own homes. Twiddling day in, day out, We play till we simply pass out. Whether it’s Tiktok or lovely Tinder, We’re living all our obsessions sinister. There’s WhatsApp for a dark, thirsty night, And Snapchat for a drunk, happening fight. We Instagram our uniqueness, By becoming mass consciousness. And crawling over past history, Isn’t Facebook’s secret mystery. Crushing our own candies, Signing off on some privacy. What are we becoming but, Data points on this ginormous network’s butt. As we…read more

Jul.25

The wave of balance

Posted by Khushman Patel in poem

The slide down’s dangerous, friend, You see, tis’ not a change you can fend. If you’re worried, it’ll eat you up, For its the rhythm you setup. It goes on and on, evermore Till the beat’s banging in your soul. For it’s a dance between jilted lovers, Where debauchery and perfection vie for cover. Let’s begin with the bottom of the soul, Times when iniquity makes you whole. Reveling in the dregs of yourself, While your Jekyll calls for help. It begins with self apathy, As you ignore your own…read more

Dec.11

Queen’s love

Posted by Khushman Patel in poem

What is this inviting trap you set? You capture me, my mind, and my soul. And twist and turn and burn it out, Till left of it these ashes decry, Of betrayal and vengeance shout. How do you break down my impenetrable walls, Of years and years of bricks laid down, Into the tempests of my mind. Where you crown yourself queen of all, And tyrannically echo your manic laugh. And queen of all you start to pull, And push and shove all my innards. And rip and shred and…read more

Jan.22

Of Pensieves and prose

Posted by Khushman Patel in note, random

Reading is such an intimate experience. Not when that which is written is a mere wisp of what it could be, but when an author lovingly pens down every word as if etching the secret corners of his heart. When each letter echoes its desire to be expressed, and to be more than a simple electrical disturbance in the author’s mind. Reading, then becomes an act of pleasure. You are transported to their mind, with its own rhythm and architecture. You visit their Pensieve; a silent observer to the magnificence…read more

Jan.11