Week 04 — Jun 1–7, 2026 — Trees pt 2 | My Portfolio

Week 04 (Jun 1 – Jun 7, 2026) — TREES PT 2

7 problems (NeetCode Trees Hard + extended medium-hard). Timer on, solo, no hints until timer expires. Carry-over: referral DMs (10 mandatory by Jun 7), STAR reps (3 min). First paid mock this week. SD theory: Consumer Facing section. Decision gate Sun Jun 7.

→ Full curriculum: [[Coach/project_dsa_sd_curriculum]] → Coach state: [[synthesis/Coach Hub]]

Goals This Week

7 DSA problems on time, solo — timer rules same as W1–W3
Referral DMs: 10/10 sent by Jun 7 — Splunk (5) + Amazon (5). MANDATORY. No carry.
SD theory: Consumer Facing section (NeetCode SD curriculum)
STAR reps: 3 minimum (WebSocket geo + AskTGE — 3rd carry, no more slipping)
1 paid mock scheduled + completed by Sun Jun 7
Sun Jun 7 scorecard completed + W5 direction set

DSA Problem Set (7)

Rules: timer on, no editorial/AI/peek until timer expires. One sitting per problem. Mark fail if timer expires.

#	Pattern	Problem	LC	Diff	Target	Solved?	Time	Bugs / notes
1	Trees	Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum	124	H	45 min	Yes	17:00	nonlocal justified — return = single-dir gain, nonlocal = split path global max. max(dfs, 0) clamp is key.
2	Trees	Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree	297	H	45 min	Yes	20:00	BFS correct. Spurious inner for-loop in serialize — no level boundary needed, just while-queue. DFS + iter()/next() is cleaner canonical.
3	Trees	Flatten Binary Tree to Linked List	114	M	25 min	Yes*	22:00	Created new TreeNode objects — violates in-place. Correct output but wrong approach. Fix: Morris O(1) or stack-relink existing nodes.
4	Trees	Binary Tree Zigzag Level Order	103	M	25 min	Yes	14:00	cnt % 2 → boolean flag left_to_right. list(reversed()) → level[::-1]. Logic solid — LC 102 BFS + direction flip.
5	Trees	Path Sum II	113	M	25 min	Yes	7:30	Check `node.val == target` at leaf works but awkward. Cleaner: subtract first, check remaining==0.
5b	Trees	Path Sum (warmup)	112	E	—	Yes	4:30	Clean canonical recursive. Solved as warmup before 113 — good instinct.
6	Trees	Populating Next Right Pointers	116	M	25 min	Yes	15:00	DFS correct (O(log n) space). Canonical: O(1) iterative — walk each level via established next pointers. LC 117 (arbitrary tree) breaks DFS.
6b	Trees	Populating Next Right Pointers II	117	M	—	Yes	—	Solved LC 117 (arbitrary tree) as follow-up. O(1) scan-forward approach correct. Key invariant: only skips childless nodes. Senior bar.
7	Trees	Delete Node in BST	450	M	30 min	Fail	36:00	Hybrid iterative/recursive — iterative search, recursive deletion. Cost the overtime. Canonical: pure recursive, parent rewired via return value. No prev/dummy needed.
7b	Trees	Create Binary Tree From Descriptions	2196	M	—	Yes	20:00	Bonus. setdefault eliminates repeated get-or-create. keys()-children (set difference) replaces list comprehension for root. pop() needed — set not subscriptable.

Score: 6/7 solved on time (LC 450 fail — 36 min vs 30 min target)

SD Theory Tracker

Section	Status	Notes
Consumer Facing	⬜	Topics TBD from NeetCode SD curriculum

BA Drills Tracker (3 reps minimum — 3rd carry, no excuses)

Story	W3 done	W4 target	W4 done	Notes
WebSocket Geo (TGE Logistics)	0	2 reps	0	250+ drivers, sub-second, hybrid hydration
AskTGE (DynamoDB + perf audit)	0	1 rep	0	90% token cost ↓, 50× bandwidth ↓, 2s→200ms

Referral Outreach Tracker (MANDATORY — all 10 by Jun 7)

Contact	Source	DM sent?	Reply?
Contact 1	Splunk conf24	⬜	—
Contact 2	Splunk conf24	⬜	—
Contact 3	Splunk conf24	⬜	—
Contact 4	Splunk conf24	⬜	—
Contact 5	Splunk conf24	⬜	—
Contact 6	Amazon referral	⬜	—
Contact 7	Amazon referral	⬜	—
Contact 8	Amazon referral	⬜	—
Contact 9	Amazon referral	⬜	—
Contact 10	Amazon referral	⬜	—

Mock Interview Tracker

#	Type	Platform	Date	Score / notes
1	—	—	target by Jun 7	First paid mock

Daily Plan

Mon Jun 1

LC 124 — Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum (45 min)
SD theory: Consumer Facing pt 1 (~1h)
Target: 2.5h

Tue Jun 2

LC 297 — Serialize and Deserialize BT (45 min)
SD theory: Consumer Facing pt 2 (~1h)
Referral DMs: Splunk contacts 1–5 (45 min)
Target: 3h

Wed Jun 3

LC 114, 103 (2 mediums, ~50 min + review)
WebSocket geo STAR (2 reps)
Target: 2h

Thu Jun 4

LC 113, 116 (2 mediums, ~50 min + review)
AskTGE STAR (1 rep)
Referral DMs: Amazon contacts 6–10 (45 min)
Target: 2.5h

Fri Jun 5

LC 450 (1 medium, ~30 min + review)
Mock interview scheduled / prep
Target: 2h

Sat Jun 6

1 paid mock interview
Review any missed problems
Target: 3h

Sun Jun 7 — Retro day

Write scorecard + W5 direction (run /coach scorecard)
Verify all 10 DMs sent
Target: 2h

Decision Gate (Sun Jun 7)

Score on time	Verdict	W5 plan
6–7	Pass — strong	W5: Tries (3) + Heap pt 1 (4)
4–5	Pass — patchy	W5: Tries + Heap + retry weakest Trees pt 2
< 4	Fail	Repeat Trees pt 2 in W5

Hours Log

Day	Planned	Actual	What blocked?
Mon	2.5h
Tue	3h
Wed	2h
Thu	2.5h
Fri	2h
Sat	3h
Sun	2h
Total	17h

Week 04 — Jun 1–7, 2026 — Trees pt 2

Week 04 (Jun 1 – Jun 7, 2026) — TREES PT 2

Goals This Week

DSA Problem Set (7)

SD Theory Tracker

BA Drills Tracker (3 reps minimum — 3rd carry, no excuses)

Referral Outreach Tracker (MANDATORY — all 10 by Jun 7)

Mock Interview Tracker

Daily Plan

Mon Jun 1

Tue Jun 2

Wed Jun 3

Thu Jun 4

Fri Jun 5

Sat Jun 6

Sun Jun 7 — Retro day

Decision Gate (Sun Jun 7)

Hours Log

Week Retro (fill Sun Jun 7 night)

Scorecard

SD theory completed

BA + Referrals + Mock

What slipped

What surprised me

W5 decision

One thing to fix in W5