> But wouldn't it be exactly the hallmark of a self-taught programmer to be able to figure things out on their own? Self-taught or not, no one is able to deriv

> But wouldn't it be exactly the hallmark of a self-taught programmer to be able to figure things out on their own? Self-taught or not, no one is able to derive an optimal solution to algorithm problems on the fly. You must have previously learnt the technique, and probably practiced applying it a lot.