Grind 75 vs. LeetCode patterns: Best for Snowflake interview prep

You’ve got the Snowflake interview email, congrats. The next question is obvious: how do you prepare for a company that is not just a data giant, but also a modern software powerhouse?

Snowflake has quickly become one of the most influential tech companies in the data space, redefining how organizations think about cloud data warehousing and analytics. That kind of innovation demands engineers who can not only write efficient code, but also think in scalable, systematic ways. At Snowflake, every solution must work at scale. The bar is high, and so are the expectations: precision, efficiency, and adaptability.

So, how do you rise to that challenge? Is it by sticking to curated lists like Grind 75, Blind 75, or NeetCode 150, or by going deeper into LeetCode’s coding patterns that train you to recognize strategies across a wide range of problems?

That is exactly what we will explore in this blog. I will compare Grind 75 and Snowflake’s top 75 questions against the 28 LeetCode patterns from Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns. We will see how each approach stacks up, measure how well they cover Snowflake’s favorite coding interview problems, and design a hybrid prep roadmap that actually works.

Sneak peek: How we evaluated Snowflake interview prep strategies

Before recommending any prep strategy, I like to put it through a systematic test. For this blog, I used the same coverage rubric I introduced earlier in the first blog, Grind 75 vs. LeetCode Patterns: Most Effective for Interviews?, of this series: a pattern is considered well-represented if a set includes at least one easy, two medium, and one hard coding problem. 

To add more clarity, I also applied a scoring system: 1 point for an easy, 4 points each for two medium (8 total), and 6 points for a hard problem. This makes 15 points per pattern. As there are 28 patterns, the maximum score is 420. The closer a prep strategy gets to this benchmark, the more complete and reliable it is for Snowflake interviews.

Using the 1–2–1 rubric as our benchmark, let’s map both Grind 75 and Snowflake’s top 75 list against all 28 LeetCode patterns.

The chart above makes one thing clear. Grind 75 and even Snowflake’s own top 75 fall short of the ideal benchmark. Yet, a Snowflake-focused roadmap consistently delivers a stronger score. The natural question is, what exactly is this roadmap, and why does it outperform both popular lists? That’s the question we’ll answer in the next sections.

Grind 75, Snowflake top 75, and LeetCode patterns: Quick overview#

Grind 75 is one of the most popular curated interview prep lists. It consists of 75 hand-picked coding problems from LeetCode. It brings together many of the most common problems that show up in interviews, from Arrays and Strings to Trees, Graphs, and Dynamic Programming. Its popularity makes it a common starting point for thousands of candidates.

Snowflake top 75 is a company-focused collection of coding problems on LeetCode that reflects the types of challenges you are likely to face in a Snowflake interview.

LeetCode patterns are the underlying strategies that connect seemingly different coding questions. There are 28 well-known patterns, including Sliding Window, Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming, and Graph Traversals. Once you recognize the pattern behind a question, solving it becomes a matter of applying the right framework rather than recalling a memorized solution. Patterns are what allow you to adapt quickly when the exact question you practiced never shows up in the interview.

Can Grind 75 alone prepare you for Snowflake interviews?#

Grind 75 has earned its reputation for a reason. It consolidates many of the most frequently asked coding problems into one manageable set, making it an attractive starting point for any interview prep journey. For candidates preparing for Snowflake, it does provide exposure to a wide range of patterns such as Two Pointers, Sliding Window, and Dynamic Programming. Practicing these problems will build a solid foundation and get you comfortable with core problem-solving techniques.

The limitation, however, is that Grind 75 was originally created with FAANG interviews in mind, and that too a few years back. In 2025, the hiring landscape looks very different. If we look at Snowflake’s ten most frequently asked coding problems, seven of them are not even present in Grind 75 (highlighted in green in the table below).

This is a serious gap, and one that is likely to widen further as the tech landscape evolves. With the rise of AI, interviewers are moving away from rote problem lists and toward questions that test adaptability, reasoning, and a deeper understanding of problem-solving patterns.

How LeetCode patterns strengthen your Snowflake interview prep#

If Grind 75 shows its age when applied to Snowflake interviews, LeetCode patterns provide the opposite. Patterns are not about memorizing solutions but about mastering reusable strategies like Sliding Window, Two Pointers, Backtracking, and Graph Traversals. These strategies apply across dozens of variations, including the kinds of data-heavy and system-oriented problems Snowflake is known for.

This adaptability is the key advantage. Even if a problem does not appear in Grind 75 or Snowflake’s top 75, chances are it still maps to a known pattern. Recognizing the underlying pattern gives you the confidence to solve questions you have never seen before. That is exactly what will help you in Snowflake coding interviews: precision in thinking, efficiency in problem-solving, and the ability to scale your approach when the problem changes form.

In practice, patterns close the gaps that problem lists leave behind. Where Grind 75 stops at exposure, patterns go further by training you to see structure, build generalizable problem-solving instincts, and handle the unexpected.

LeetCode patterns for Snowflake coding interviews#

With 28 coding patterns to cover, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed about where to start your interview prep. To simplify your prep, I’ve grouped these patterns into four categories based on how they typically appear in Snowflake’s coding questions.

• Must-know patterns: These patterns form the foundation. They appear frequently in Snowflake interviews and provide the building blocks for tackling many different types of problems.

• Very common patterns: These patterns often show up in variations that test efficiency and optimization. They add significant depth to your preparation and are highly rewarding to practice.

• Solid but situational patterns: These patterns appear less frequently but still carry weight when tested. They are worth covering to tackle questions that require systematic or recursive reasoning.

• Finishing-line helpers: These patterns are less common but useful for rounding out your preparation. They ensure there are no gaps and give you confidence that you can handle edge cases if they come up.

While certain patterns appear more often in Snowflake coding interviews, the most reliable strategy is to prepare across all 28. This ensures that no matter what variation or unexpected constraint comes your way, you already have a proven framework to tackle it with confidence.

Snowflake coding interview roadmap#

Neither Grind 75 nor Snowflake top 75 alone is enough to prepare you fully for the Snowflake coding interviews, but combining them with pattern recognition gives you the best of all worlds. This hybrid roadmap ensures you cover the most relevant Snowflake questions while also building adaptability across all 28 patterns. Here is the step-by-step plan I recommend.

1. Begin with the overlap between Grind 75 and Snowflake 75: Start with the problems that appear in both lists. This overlap gives you immediate exposure to high-frequency, high-value problems that are almost guaranteed to strengthen your foundation. These problems also introduce many core patterns early on, making them a natural starting point.

2. Add Snowflake-only questions: Once the overlap is covered, move to the questions unique to Snowflake 75. Solving them helps you adapt to Snowflake’s interview style and fills the gaps that Grind 75 does not address.

3. Complete Grind 75 for full breadth: After focusing on Snowflake’s priorities, return to the rest of Grind 75. This step rounds out your preparation by ensuring you cover a wide variety of problem types that may not appear in Snowflake’s 75 but still map to essential patterns.

4. Ensure complete coverage of all 28 patterns: Finally, identify the patterns that remain underrepresented after working through the lists. Using the 1–2–1 rubric, add targeted practice to bring every pattern up to full coverage.

Why start with the overlapping questions?#

The overlap between Grind 75 and Snowflake top 75 is the most efficient set to begin. These problems have been validated twice, as they are common enough to appear in conventional lists like Grind 75 and important enough to be included in Snowflake’s company-specific list. Starting here gives you maximum return on effort because you build confidence with questions that are both high-frequency and high-value.

Let’s place both, Grind 75 and Snowflake’s top 75 coding problems, next to each other to identify the coding problems that appear in both lists.

The comparison above shows that there are 22 problems common to both Grind 75 and Snowflake top 75. For a list that was never tailored to Snowflake, this overlap provides a meaningful foundation.

Now, let’s see what patterns are covered by this overlapping set and to what extent they are covered as per the 1–2–1 rubric. In the bar chart below, each bar represents a pattern. The length of the bar shows what percent of the full 15 points you’ve earned for that pattern, while the label highlights how many easy, medium, and hard problems went into that score.

Note: For this calculation, I have only considered the counts that satisfy our 1–2–1 rubric. If a pattern has more questions than required by the rubric, I count only 1 easy, 2 medium, and 1 hard problem. For example, if Dynamic Programming has 10 medium questions, I have included just 2 in this calculation.

The overlap of Grind 75 and Snowflake’s top 75 introduces 13 out of 28 patterns, including several important ones, such as Two Pointers, Sliding Window, and Dynamic Programming. That is nearly half of the total patterns covered right from the start, which is a significant milestone. The good part is that core patterns begin to take shape here, giving you early exposure that will pay off as you continue through the roadmap. However, many patterns remain underrepresented, so this stage should be seen as a strong foundation rather than the finish line.

Why move to Snowflake-only problems next?#

Once the overlap is complete, the next logical step is to focus on the questions unique to Snowflake’s top 75. By tackling these coding problems, you adapt to Snowflake’s interview style while also filling the gaps left by Grind 75. This ensures your prep is not only broad but also aligned with what Snowflake interviewers are likely to test.

Let’s see which LeetCode patterns are covered by the Snowflake-only questions.

The list above shows that the Snowflake-only coding problems introduce 12 new patterns, bringing the total to 25 out of 28. That is nearly 89% coverage, a big jump forward that shows the Snowflake prep roadmap is clearly moving in the right direction.

Now, let’s see how well the patterns in this set are covered as per the 1–2–1 rubric. The bar chart below highlights the newly covered patterns in green on the y-axis.

The bar chart above shows that adding the Snowflake-only problems significantly strengthens the overall coverage. Many patterns that were partially covered in the overlap stage, such as Dynamic Programming, Stacks, Trie, and Custom Data Structures, now move into the well-covered zone. Others like Sliding Window, Two Pointers, and Heaps improve further, building on the foundation you already had.

However, a handful of patterns remain underrepresented, including Fast and Slow Pointers, Bitwise Manipulation, Sort and Search, and Union Find. These gaps highlight the need for targeted practice to ensure full coverage.

Why finishing Grind 75 still matters?#

Once the Snowflake-specific questions are covered, completing the rest of Grind 75 gives your prep the breadth it needs. These additional problems introduce patterns that are not emphasized in Snowflake’s top 75 but can still appear in interviews. More importantly, they reinforce consistency across easy, medium, and hard levels, helping you meet the 1–2–1 rubric for patterns that are still underrepresented. This step ensures you do not have gaps and that your preparation is strong, even if the interview takes an unexpected turn.

Let’s see which patterns the Grind 75-only coding problems cover.

The list above shows that the remaining Grind 75 coding problems introduce 2 new patterns, taking the total to 27 out of 28. That is about 96% coverage, which is remarkable progress. At this point, the Snowflake-focused roadmap has brought you very close to complete preparation.

Now, let’s see how well these patterns are covered as per the 1–2–1 rubric.

The bar chart above shows that with the remaining Grind 75 problems added, the coverage moves even closer to completion. Several patterns such as Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming, Stacks, and Tree Traversals now reach full coverage, while others like Backtracking and In-Place Manipulation of a Linked List are strengthened into the partial zone.

A few patterns such as Fast and Slow Pointers, Matrices, Subsets, and Union Find are still underrepresented, but these can be closed with a handful of targeted problems.

Is your Snowflake coding interview prep complete now?#

By this stage, you might be wondering if the Snowflake-focused roadmap has brought you to full pattern coverage. The chart below shows the overall picture across all 28 patterns, giving a clear view of what has been covered so far and what’s left.

Looking at the overall roadmap, 10 out of 28 patterns are now in the green zone, which means they are well covered across easy, medium, and hard levels. These are the patterns you can approach with full confidence.

Several others, about 7 patterns, are in the yellow zone. They have partial coverage, but just one or two additional problems are enough to push them into the well-covered category. This is where the 1–2–1 rubric becomes useful, as a missing easy or hard problem can make all the difference.

The remaining patterns fall into the red zone, meaning they are underrepresented. Most of these need two to three focused problems to reach the green zone, with the exception of Cyclic Sort, which has no exposure yet and will require full attention. Here are some recommended coding problems to practice for Cyclic Sort.

Patterns recap for Snowflake coding interview prep#

The chart below shows how patterns are distributed across the roadmap and which stages contribute the most to your Snowflake prep.

The roadmap shows that nearly half of the patterns, about 46%, came from the overlap stage alone. Snowflake-only problems add another 43%, making them the second biggest contributor to overall coverage. Grind-only problems fill in around 7%, while just under 4% of patterns remain uncovered. This breakdown makes it clear that the overlap and Snowflake-specific questions together drive the bulk of your preparation.

Score breakdown for the Snowflake coding interview prep #

Beyond pattern coverage, it is useful to measure how much each stage contributes toward the 420-point benchmark. The chart below shows the score breakdown across the roadmap, highlighting where most of the progress comes from.

The roadmap adds up to 274 points out of 420, which is about 65% of the ideal benchmark. The biggest contribution comes from the Snowflake-only problems at 140 points, followed by the 87 points from the overlap set. Grind 75-only questions add another 47 points. Together, this breakdown shows why Snowflake-specific practice is essential. It delivers the largest share of the score while the overlap ensures a solid base.

Snowflake interview prep roadmap: Key takeaways#

Preparing for Snowflake interviews requires more than simply working through a curated list of problems. Grind 75 offers a solid foundation, but it was designed with FAANG in mind years ago and does not fully reflect the challenges you will face at Snowflake today. Snowflake’s own top 75 questions bring you closer to the company’s style, but they also leave gaps when it comes to complete pattern coverage.

LeetCode patterns, on the other hand, give you adaptability. They train you to recognize strategies that cut across problem variations. At Snowflake, what really matters is how you reason about a solution and how you think in terms of scale. Most crucially, pattern understanding never gets old. No matter how interview trends or technologies shift, these core strategies remain the foundation of problem-solving.

The strongest preparation comes from combining these elements. Start with the overlap between Grind 75 and Snowflake 75, add the Snowflake-specific questions, complete the remaining Grind 75 for breadth, and finally, make sure all 28 coding patterns are well covered using the 1–2–1 rubric. This hybrid approach ensures you build both depth and adaptability without wasting time.

If you follow this roadmap, you are not just preparing for Snowflake, you are preparing to succeed in any technical interview where the ability to think in patterns matters more than memorizing a list. Good luck!

Recommended resources to level up your coding interview prep#

While this blog offers you a data-driven way to measure and close your prep gaps, the right learning tools can accelerate your progress even further. Here are two highly effective resources to complement your study plan:

• Educative’s Personalized Interview Prep: It’s your tailored prep companion that adapts to your skill level and focuses on the 28 essential LeetCode patterns we’ve been discussing. You can work on the patterns that need the most attention, track progress with clear metrics, and know exactly what to tackle next. Whether it’s adding an easy problem to build confidence or a hard one to push for mastery, you’ll always be working on the right problems at the right time.

• Educative’s Mock Interviews: Practicing is not just about solving problems. It is also about handling real interview pressure. Educative’s AI mock interviews let you simulate actual interview conditions, get actionable feedback, and improve in areas like problem-solving speed. This way, you are not only technically prepared but also confident and ready to perform under time constraints.