Hey folks 👋

I’m a Java backend developer with ~3.5 YOE, currently prepping seriously for coding interviews (DSA + system design). I recently solved a LeetCode problem and wanted to get some perspective from more experienced folks here.

problem: 1189. Maximum Number of Balloons

🧩 Problem Context

It’s the classic “maximum number of ‘balloon’ instances from a string” type problem.

💡 My Approach (Accepted but not optimal)

I built a frequency map and then kept subtracting characters for "balloon" in a loop until I couldn’t anymore.

public int maxNumberOfBalloons(String text) {
     Map<Character,Integer> have= new HashMap<>();
     for(int i=0;i<text.length();i++){
        have.put(text.charAt(i),have.getOrDefault(text.charAt(i),0)+1);
     }   
     String need="balloon";
    int res=0;
     while(true){
        for(int i=0;i<need.length();i++){ 
              char c = need.charAt(i);
                if (!have.containsKey(c) || have.get(c) == 0) {
                    return res;
                }
                have.put(c, have.get(c) - 1);
                if (have.get(c) == 0) {
                    have.remove(c);
                }
       }
       res++;
     } 
}

🤔 My Question

I know this works, but it’s clearly not the most optimal / elegant solution.

👉 In interviews or practice:

• What do you do when you can’t immediately think of the optimal solution?
• Is it okay to start with a brute-force or suboptimal approach like this and then improve?
• How do you train yourself to recognize patterns faster (like frequency counting optimizations here)?

📌 What I’m Trying to Improve

• Moving from “working solution” → “optimal solution” faster
• Recognizing patterns under time pressure
• Communicating thought process clearly

Would really appreciate how you all approach this in real interviews 🙏.
P.S. I used ChatGPT to help draft this post. Don’t worry I am still human just getting some backup from my AI friend while preparing.