The 5-Step Strategy That Changed How I Solve Any Coding Problem

Picture this: You’re staring at a coding problem, and your mind just… blanks.

You start typing something, anything, then delete it all. Try a different approach. Get stuck again. Before you know it, you’re spiraling into that familiar pit of confusion and self-doubt.

Sound familiar? Yeah, I’ve been there too. More times than I’d like to admit.

But here’s what I discovered after countless hours of frustration: The problem wasn’t that I couldn’t code. The problem was that I didn’t know how to think about coding problems.

Today, I’m sharing the 5-step strategy that completely transformed my approach to problem-solving. Whether you’re prepping for interviews, debugging at 2 AM, or building your next feature, this framework will help you think clearly and stay calm under pressure.

Why You Need a Strategy (Not Just More Practice)

Let’s be honest — we’ve all fallen into the “just practice more” trap. But practicing without a strategy is like driving without a map. You might eventually get somewhere, but you’ll waste a lot of time and gas getting there.

The truth is, problem-solving is a skill you can learn. And like any skill, it gets easier when you have a reliable process to follow.

The 5-Step Framework That Actually Works

Step 1: Understand the Problem (Really Understand It)

Before you even think about coding, make sure you actually know what you’re trying to solve. I know it sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how often we skip this step.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What exactly am I trying to build?
• What should go in, and what should come out?
• What could go wrong? (Edge cases, weird inputs, etc.)

Let’s try an example:

Problem: "Write a function that multiplies two values."

Seems simple, right? But wait:

• What if someone passes in multiply(2) with only one argument?
• What if they pass strings like multiply("2", "4")?
• What about really big numbers that might cause overflow?

See how a “simple” problem suddenly has layers? Taking time to understand these details upfront saves you hours of debugging later.

Step 2: Work Through Real Examples

Don’t just think about how your function should work — actually write out examples. This is where you’ll catch those sneaky edge cases.

For a character counter function:

characterCounter("apple")
// Should return: { a: 1, p: 2, l: 1, e: 1 }

characterCounter("aaAA")
// Hmm, case-sensitive? { a: 2, A: 2 } or { a: 4 }?

characterCounter("")
// Empty string... {} or error message?

characterCounter(12345)
// Not a string... throw an error?

This step is like having a conversation with your future self. You’re figuring out all the ways your code might break before you write it.

Step 3: Write Your Game Plan (In Plain English)

Here’s where most people jump straight to code. Don’t do that. Instead, write out your approach in simple, human language.

For our character counter:

function countCharacters(input) {
  // 1. Create an empty object to store results
  // 2. Loop through each character in the string
  // 3. Convert character to lowercase (if we want case-insensitive)
  // 4. Check if it's a valid character (letter/number)
  // 5. If we've seen this character before, add 1 to its count
  // 6. If it's new, set its count to 1
  // 7. Return our results object
}

Think of this as your GPS. Even if you take a wrong turn later, you’ll know exactly where you were trying to go.

Step 4: Solve What You Can, Skip What’s Hard

Here’s the secret that changed everything for me: You don’t have to solve everything at once.

Stuck on a tricky part? Write a comment and move on. Get the basic structure working first.

Example – removing vowels from a string:

function removeVowels(str) {
  let result = '';
  
  for (let char of str) {
    // TODO: Figure out vowel detection later
    result += char;
  }
  
  return result;
}

Now you have working code! You can test it, see it run, and build confidence. Then come back and tackle the vowel detection:

if (!'aeiouAEIOU'.includes(char)) {
  result += char;
}

This approach keeps you moving forward instead of getting stuck in analysis paralysis.

Step 5: Make It Better (But Not Perfect)

Your code works? Awesome! Now ask yourself:

• Would someone else understand this code?
• Would future me understand this code?
• Can I make it cleaner without making it more complex?

Before:

for (let i = 0; i < str.length; i++) {
  let char = str[i];
  if (!'aeiouAEIOU'.includes(char)) {
    result += char;
  }
}

After:

function isVowel(char) {
  return 'aeiouAEIOU'.includes(char);
}

function removeVowels(str) {
  let result = '';
  
  for (let char of str) {
    if (!isVowel(char)) {
      result += char;
    }
  }
  
  return result;
}

Much clearer, right? The isVowel function makes the intent obvious, and it’s reusable too.

Why This Actually Works

This framework works because it matches how our brains naturally solve problems:

1. Understanding before acting
2. Exploring possibilities
3. Planning our approach
4. Building incrementally
5. Improving what we have

It’s not about memorizing solutions or being a coding genius. It’s about having a reliable process you can trust.

Your Interview Secret Weapon

If you’re doing live coding interviews, this framework is gold:

✅ Talk through steps 1-3 out loud – Show your thinking process ✅ Share your plan – Even if you don’t finish, they see your approach ✅ When stuck, say: “Let me get the basic structure working first” ✅ At the end, reflect: “Here’s how I’d improve this with more time”

Interviewers care more about how you think than whether you get the perfect solution.

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to be a coding wizard to solve problems well. You just need a strategy you can rely on.

Next time you face a coding challenge:

1. Understand what you’re really solving
2. Explore with concrete examples
3. Plan your approach in plain language
4. Build incrementally, skip the hard parts temporarily
5. Refactor to make it cleaner

Try this framework on your next problem. I bet you’ll be surprised at how much clearer and calmer you feel.

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What’s your biggest coding challenge right now? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Thanks for reading! — Ranjan