DEV Community: Huynh Nguyen

🌅 How Waking Up Early Helped Me Code More, Play with My Son, and Support My Wife

Huynh Nguyen — Fri, 01 Aug 2025 21:36:21 +0000

I used to constantly ask myself:
• How can I find time to play with my son?
• How do I help my wife with chores?
• And still, how do I manage to code and level up my career?

For a long time, I couldn’t find the balance. I tried time-blocking, productivity tools, late-night hustle… but nothing worked.

Eventually, I discovered a simple—but not easy—solution: waking up early.

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☀️ The Idea Sounds Simple: Wake Up Early

I had heard it a hundred times before. But like many, I struggled to go to bed early, which made it nearly impossible to wake up early consistently.

For years, I tried and failed. I would stay up late, feeling exhausted the next morning, and miss out on both family time and personal growth.

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🎯 The Turning Point

One day, I told myself:

“Just give it a shot—go to bed early tonight and try waking up at 4:37 AM. One day. Just try.”

And guess what?

That first day, I woke up at 3:38 AM naturally—without an alarm. I stayed up, fully awake. That was the beginning.

For 13 days in a row, I maintained this new rhythm. Only once did I fail and fall back asleep. But now, I’d seen the results.

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🔑 The Key That Solved It All

Waking up early gave me:
• Quiet time to code before the world wakes up 🌎
• Energy and presence to play with my son 👶
• Space to help my wife with chores 🧹
• And most importantly, a sense of peace and purpose

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💬 My Message to You

If you’re struggling to:
• Reset your life
• Make time for coding or learning
• Be a better parent or partner
• Or simply feel more in control

… and you’re not required to work at night — give this a chance.

🛌 Sleep early.
⏰ Wake up early.
⚡ Use that sacred morning time.

You might just unlock the version of you that’s been waiting.

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⏳ Thanks for reading! Have you tried waking up early to code or create? I’d love to hear your story.

🧠 I Burned Out Trying to Balance Leetcode, OOP, and System Design — Here’s What Finally Worked

Huynh Nguyen — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:49:09 +0000

Hey folks 👋,

If you’re preparing for technical interviews — especially for FAANG or top-tier tech companies — and struggling to balance Leetcode, OOP, and System Design, this post is for you.

Because I made a common mistake, and I want to help you avoid it.

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🚧 My Problem: The “1–1–1 Leetcode Routine” Backfired

For a while, I followed this daily routine:
• 1 Leetcode problem from yesterday
• 1 problem from 7 days ago
• 1 new problem today

I thought I was doing great — reviewing, reinforcing, moving forward.

But in reality…

After finishing all 3 problems (plus writing logs and unit tests), I was mentally drained.

So what happened?
• ❌ I had no energy left for OOP
• ❌ I kept skipping System Design
• ❌ I felt stuck in a loop, working hard but not progressing holistically

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🤯 My Realization: Order > Volume

After reflecting, I realized the problem wasn’t effort or motivation — it was the order of how I practiced.

I was doing Leetcode first — the most draining — and leaving the most important foundational skills (OOP and SD) for “later”… which never came.

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✅ The Fix: OOP → System Design → Leetcode

💡 BUT ONLY AFTER YOU’VE DONE AT LEAST 30+ LEETCODE PROBLEMS.

This is important.

If you’re just starting, you need to build muscle with Leetcode first.

But once you’ve solved around 30–40 problems, your brain is ready for deeper concepts. That’s when you should flip the routine:
1. OOP – Understand class design, abstraction, inheritance with small exercises
2. System Design – Learn about scalability, caching, queues, load balancers, etc.
3. Leetcode – Now apply those mental models to problem-solving with better clarity

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💡 Why This Order Works Better

Step Why it works
🧱 OOP first Your brain is fresh → easier to understand structure and relationships
🧠 System Design second You can think bigger picture — scale, communication, trade-offs
🧩 Leetcode last You’ve warmed up mentally → problems feel easier to dissect and solve

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✅ My Daily Flow Now (Post-30+ Leetcode Problems)
• 1h of OOP
• 1h of System Design
• 1–5 Leetcode problems/day (review + only 1 new)

→ Feels lighter, more focused, and less stressful.
→ I get more clarity, not just more problems done.

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🙌 Final Advice
• Don’t do 3 Leetcode problems a day too early — it’s draining.
• Get to 30+ problems first (build pattern recognition and brute-force instinct).
• Then switch to:
✅ OOP → ✅ System Design → ✅ Leetcode (1–5 problems/day - only 1 new)

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🔖 TL;DR

“Do 30+ Leetcode problems first.
Then switch to OOP → System Design → Leetcode.
This reduces stress, builds depth, and sets you up to crush interviews.”

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Hope this helps someone out there 🙏
If you’re in the same phase — struggling to fit it all in — drop a comment. I’d love to hear your journey too!

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I Practiced for 89 Days — And Everything Started to Shift

Huynh Nguyen — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 07:45:35 +0000

89 days ago, I began something that I had failed many times before.

I started practicing coding and system design, one small step at a time.
At first, it was messy. I had tried LeetCode so many times in the past, but usually after just 1 week, I’d burn out completely.

Back then, I wanted to be a “superhero” — to do it all fast, perfect, dramatic.
But of course… I couldn’t.

And for years, I hid from it.

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Then something changed.
I found a method called Tiny Habits — and I didn’t force myself to do more.
I just did smaller, sustainable actions.
And I tracked them.

That’s all. But it changed everything.

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🚀 Here’s what happened in 89 days:
• ✅ I solved 45+ LeetCode problems (with real understanding).
• ✅ I built momentum on GitHub every week.
• ✅ I started reading system design consistently.
• ✅ I’ve gone to sleep early for 9 days straight.
• ✅ I’ve stopped using YouTube for 3 days (this one is a huge win for me).

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I mark today as a personal milestone — not because I achieved something huge,
but because I’m finally consistent.
And that consistency feels like freedom.

Once the momentum starts rolling, like a trolley,
it’s smooth… and almost unstoppable.

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This is just day 89.
Let’s see where I’ll be on day 99, 121, and beyond.

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If you’ve struggled like me,
I just want to say this:

Start small. Really small.
Track your progress.
Don’t wait for motivation — build your identity through action.
And someday soon, you’ll feel something shift.

Thanks to Dr. #BJ #Fogg and author/teacher: Gayle Laakmann McDowell #crackingthecodinginterview
Thanks for reading. 💚

How I Beat the LeetCode Grind with Tiny Habits

Huynh Nguyen — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:40:32 +0000

✍️ Inspired by Gayle Laakmann McDowell (Cracking the Coding Interview)

💡 Backed by BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits Method

🚀 How I Beat the LeetCode Grind

Many people quit solving LeetCode or CTCI problems after 1–3 weeks.

Why?

Because the problems are hard, the learning curve is steep, and there are just too many to go through.

But what if the solution isn’t grinding harder — it’s starting smaller?

That’s exactly what I discovered by combining two powerful ideas:

Gayle McDowell’s strategy: Brute-force first, then optimize
BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits method: Build momentum with small wins

🎯 My 3-Phase System

Here’s the simple system I followed that helped me stay consistent, get faster, and actually enjoy the process.

🌱 Phase 1: Starter

👣 Solve 1 problem every 1–3 days
Take your time. Understand brute force deeply.
Build the habit, not speed.

Once you complete 15 problems, move to Phase 2.

🧠 Golden Rule (All Phases)

For every problem, always do this:

✅ Start with brute-force (even if it's O(n²))
⚙️ Think of optimizations → can you get to O(n)?
🧠 Write your thought process before coding

This mirrors how top candidates explain their ideas in interviews — just like Gayle recommends in Cracking the Coding Interview.

🔥 Phase 2: Warmer

Now you’re more confident. Let’s build retention and recall.

Use the 1–1–1 strategy daily:

🔁 1 problem from yesterday
🔁 1 from the past 5 days
🆕 1 new problem

✍️ Add These 2 Habits:

Write a Daily Log Example:

🗓️ 2025-07-28
✅ Problem: Daily Temperatures
🧠 Brute: nested loop
⚙️ Optimized: stack → O(n)
🧪 Status: Passed

** Write UnitTest** Just a few asserts. Helps you catch mistakes fast.

⚡ Phase 3: Speeder

Now layer your memory like spaced repetition.

Use the 1–1–1–1–1 method daily:

1 from yesterday
1 from 5 days ago
1 from 10 days ago
1 from 14 days ago
1 new problem

You’ll be reviewing across time and reinforcing memory naturally — like Anki flashcards but for code.

📊 Track Like a Pro (The Tiny Habits Roller)

Inspired by BJ Fogg, I created a tiny tracking system to build momentum.

✅ Option 1: Google Sheet

No	Date	Time	Problem	Difficulty	Phase	Approach	Status	Notes
1	2025-07-28	05:00	Daily Temperatures	Medium	Phase II	Brute → Stack	✅	Used decreasing stack

📝 Option 2: Markdown Log


markdown
## 📆 2025-07-28
### ✅ Problem: Daily Temperatures
- Phase: II
- Difficulty: Medium
- Approach: Brute → Stack (O(n))
- Notes:
- Used stack for next warmer day pattern

You can track this locally or push it to a GitHub repo to showcase your learning journey.

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🧠 Why It Works
    • ✅ Brute-force → Optimize → Test: from Gayle
    • 🧱 Tiny daily wins: from BJ Fogg
    • 🔁 Spaced recall: real learning
    • 🧪 Logs + Tests: real engineering
    • 📊 Track it = Keep it rolling

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✍️ Final Thoughts

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by LeetCode:

Start tiny. Stay consistent.
Build the roller — then let momentum take over.

“Tiny wins today → Big confidence tomorrow.” — Me 😄

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Let me know if you try this system — or have your own method.
Let’s grow together! 🚀

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