First Step When Approaching a Coding Problem

The very first thing I do when given a coding problem is make sure I actually understand what's being asked. I don't start coding right away because that usually leads to solving the wrong problem. Instead, I read the problem statement twice. The first time I get the general idea, and the second time I'm looking for specific details like input size, constraints, or edge cases. Then I restate the problem back to the interviewer in my own words. Something like if I understand correctly, you want me to find the first number that appears more than once in the array. This catches any misunderstandings early. Next, I ask one or two clarifying questions even if the problem seems clear. For example, what should I return if there are no duplicates, or can the array be empty? These questions show I'm thinking about edge cases. After that, I manually trace through a small example on the whiteboard. I'll take an input like two, five, three, two, eight and walk through what happens at each step. This helps me see the pattern before I write any code. Only after I've done all of this do I actually start writing Java. It might feel slow at first, but it saves a ton of time because I don't have to rewrite code when I realize I misunderstood something. The interviewer sees that I approach problems methodically, which is exactly how you'd work on a real production feature. One mistake freshers make is thinking silence looks bad, so they rush to start typing. But interviewers actually respect when you take a minute to think. It shows you're careful and deliberate, not just randomly trying things until something works.