Name: Interview Coder
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You can know every sorting algorithm by heart and still blank when someone says, “Let’s whiteboard this.” I’ve been there, standing in front of an interviewer, heart racing, brain buffering. It wasn’t that I didn’t know the answer. I just didn’t know how to show that I did.

That’s why I started treating interview prep like skill reps, not theory. You don’t get better at coding interviews by scrolling LeetCode until midnight; you get better by talking through problems the way you’ll do it live.

That mindset helped me land internships at Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. Now I want to show you how to build a prep plan that actually sticks, one that builds confidence, not panic.

If you’re tired of guessing what to study, getting stuck mid-solution, or losing your flow mid-interview, this one’s for you.

Interview Coder’s AI Interview Assistant provides real mock interviews, instant feedback, and practice that feels like the real thing, so you can stop guessing, start preparing smart, and actually enjoy the process.

Step-Wise Software Engineer Interview Prep (Roy Lee Style)

Most people don’t fail interviews because they’re dumb; they fail because they prep the wrong way. I’ve coached folks who spent months grinding LeetCode and still flopped at round one. I’ve also seen people with below-average code speed crush their loops because they played the process right. You don’t need to be perfect. You need to be prepared in the right direction.

Here’s precisely how I approached interview prep when I landed at Amazon, Meta, and TikTok, and what I still tell people today.

Get Shortlisted: Make Your Resume Worth Picking Up

Your resume is either a conversation starter or a one-way ticket to the archive.

Forget fluff like “motivated team player with a passion for learning.” Nobody’s calling you for that. Instead:

Start bullets with real verbs. Built. Shipped. Reduced. Designed.
Include real numbers. “Cut application programming interface (API) latency by 40% for 2M+ users” is clear. “Improved performance” is not.
One line per bullet. Don’t write an essay.
Ditch anything older than 3 years unless it’s famous or weirdly fabulous.
Mirror a few keywords from the job description, but don’t go full keyword soup.

Side projects? Keep it short. Stack used + one result. That’s it.

If you’re getting ghosted, run your resume past someone who’s gotten offers. Or do what I did: print 10 copies, give them to friends, and ask them where they stopped reading.

Know the Format Before You Train for It

Before you touch a practice question, get this from the recruiter:

What stages are in the loop?
What does each one actually test?
Is it collaborative? Timed? Open book?

Most people guess and prep wrong. I ask straight up, “Is the coding round whiteboard or CoderPad?” Saves me days.

The “Are You Even Technical?” Quiz Filter

These come in hot and fast:

Time complexity of bubble sort?
How many bits are in an int?
What does XOR do again?

They’re checking if you know CS basics or if you just play with React all day. I kept flashcards on Big O, binary ops, and JS quirks on my phone and scrolled through them while waiting in lines.

Online Coding Assessment = Write Code Fast Without Screwing Up

Usually HackerRank or something similar. Rules matter here. Some real tips:

Learn how they handle stdin/stdout; it sounds dumb, but it can cost you.
Simulate the real deal: no Stack Overflow, timer running, weird I/O rules.
Practice test cases with trash input: empty arrays, weird types, duplicates.
Know how to debug without a debugger. If it crashes, you’re not getting partial credit.

Take Home Assignment: Your Mini Portfolio

These show up more with startups or small teams. They’re looking for taste, not just brute force.

How I treat these:

Clean repo. A README that explains trade-offs.
Tests. Not 100%, but enough to show you’re not winging it.
Mention how you’d scale it (briefly).
Don’t ship it half-baked; it’s basically your portfolio in disguise.

Phone Screen: Can You Code and Talk at the Same Time?

Most phone screens use a shared editor. Sometimes you can run code, and sometimes you can't.

What I do:

Ask questions before writing anything. Show you’re not just a keyboard monkey.
Sketch out a plan and complexity before typing.
Talk while typing. Yes, it’s awkward. Still do it.
Practice in Google Docs or Notepad with no syntax highlighting.

Frontend roles? Sometimes you get a CodePen-like tool. Make sure you’ve touched one before the call.

Onsite: Depth Check + Culture Fit Speedrun

Usually 3–5 rounds: coding, design, and some behavioral stuff that feels like therapy.

Tips:

If allowed, bring your laptop and preload your snippet library.
System design? Whiteboard first. If it gets serious, switch to diagrams or markdown.
Behavioral rounds aren’t just for HR. Don’t say “I work too hard” when asked about your weaknesses. Show actual stories with tension and outcome.

Lunch chats? Ask how their last release went or what broke recently. You’ll get better signals than any Glassdoor review.

Pick One Language You Actually Use

Stick to a language you write without Googling “how to sort an array in X.”

I used Python, but not because someone told me to, because I already used it for side projects. Whatever you pick:

Know the stdlib.
Know how to read files and parse JSON.
Know how to fake a HashMap from scratch.

Do not cram a new language at the last minute because you think it’ll make you seem smarter. It won’t.

Practice With Purpose, Not Panic

Solving 500 random LeetCode questions is a great way to waste your time.

Instead, run a clean loop every time you sit down:

Clarify the question and constraints.
Write the brute-force solution.
Try improving it.
Explain complexity.
Code clean.
Test with edge cases.

Mix timed sessions with untimed review. Alternate typing with whiteboard practice. Do mock interviews, record yourself, cringe at the playback, and fix your gaps.

That’s how I prepped, not by grinding, but by practicing the right stuff in the right way.

A Study Plan That Doesn’t Fall Apart After Week Two

If you’re working a full-time job or studying, don’t pretend you’re grinding LeetCode 6 hours a day. Set 11 hours a week. That’s doable. Break it down to 2–3 hours a day, 4 days a week. That’s your real window.

Here’s what worked for me:

Weeks 1–4

Arrays, strings, and hash maps. Two pointers. Sliding window. Recursion. These are your warmup reps. You'll see them everywhere.

Weeks 5–8

Trees, graphs, BFS/DFS, heaps, basic sorting, intro DP.

Weeks 9–12

DP that makes you sweat. Graphs that ruin your weekend. Mixed sets to simulate the actual interview.

Start mock interviews by week 4 once you’ve got muscle memory for patterns. Don’t wait until you feel “ready.” You won’t.

Use spaced repetition for concepts and notes. You’ll forget what a min-heap does if you don’t revisit it. If you’re short on time, skip the fluff and do a curated list like NeetCode 75 but actually track by pattern, not problem name. That’s how you recognize them under pressure.

The Tools That Actually Help (No Chrome Tabs Needed)

You don’t need 15 platforms. You need discipline.

LeetCode

Most realistic interview problems. Stick to it.

HackerRank

Great if you keep running into input/output issues.

CodeForces

Optional. Only if you want to sharpen your speed and reflexes.

CoderPad / CodePen

Use this for mock interviews. Simulates real IDEs better than any tutorial.

Every time you screw up a problem, log it. Not just the mistake written down:

What you tried
The core trick
Other ways to solve it

Then read that log once a week. It’s your personal “how not to fail again” manual.

System Design: Where Most People BS Their Way Through

This part separates the decent engineers from the ones who get the big offers.

It’s not about buzzwords. It’s about trade-offs and clear thinking.

Here’s the method I used:

Ask good questions. Force clarity on constraints.
Figure out scale: traffic, storage, reads/writes per second.
Draw basic components (no need for Picasso).
Pick data models. Talk through consistency and availability.
Walk through bottlenecks and failure scenarios.

Start With Classics

Uniform resource locator (URL) shorteners, chat apps, news feeds, file storage, and video streaming.

You don’t need to memorize diagrams; you need to understand why each piece exists and when you’d swap it out.

System Design Study Stack That’s Actually Worth It

If you're gonna spend time, spend it right.

ByteByteGo

Best visuals, clean breakdowns of real systems.

Grokking System Design

Basic, readable. Solid for juniors.

Exponent

Video-based, interview-style examples. Easy to digest.

Advanced Grokking

Go here once you’re past the basics and want senior-level prep.

Watch → Sketch → Talk it out → Repeat. Do mock design sessions with feedback. Don’t just “study.” Practice explaining.

Behavioral Rounds: Don’t Wing It, Write It

Everyone thinks they can talk about teamwork and growth until they blank out or ramble for 10 minutes.

Use STAR

Situation, Task, Action, Result. Simple, boring, but it works.

Focus on:

What you did (not “we”)
What decision did you make
What went wrong and what changed after

Your stories should feel tight. 3–5 minutes. Max.

And don’t sugarcoat your failures, just show that you learned and actually applied it later.

Story Bank for Behavioral Prep (Don't Just Rehearse One)

Hiring managers rotate the same 10 questions. Be ready.

Here are a few they’ll probably ask:

“Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a teammate.”
“Describe a hard technical decision you made.”
“Walk me through a project you led. What changed because of it?”

Write out 8–12 solid stories that hit common themes:

Ownership
Problem-solving
Communication
Learning something hard

Then rehearse them with someone who won’t let you BS your way through. Get feedback. Tighten the ending.

You Don’t Need to Be a Negotiation Ninja

But you do need to ask.

Prep your numbers:

Base salary range for the company and level
Typical equity and signing bonus (Blind or Levels. fyi helps)
Cost of living if you’re relocating

When you get an offer:

Separate the pieces (base, equity, perks)
Explain what you’re aiming for
Ask clearly and confidently, no need to apologize

This isn’t about being greedy. It’s about being informed.

Practice Like It’s a Real Offer Call

I used to freeze up the second comp talks came up. “What are your expectations?” felt scarier than any Leetcode hard. What helped? Reps. I’d bug a friend, “Pretend you’re the recruiter. Lowball me.” Then we’d go back and forth until I didn’t flinch.

Know how their leveling works. Know what L4 vs L5 means in that org, not just in your head. Dig through Levels. Fyi or Blind not to compare, but to prepare. Equity math? Don’t just copy the total number, do the mental gymnastics: What’s the strike price? What’s the vesting? What happens if the company stalls or exits early?

And if you need time? Ask. Always ask. “Can I get back to you by Friday?” buys you time to talk to someone smarter or line up a backup offer. No one remembers who answered first. They remember who negotiated like they’d done it before.

Don’t Be Weird in Tech Interviews

Here’s the cheat sheet I wish someone had slapped on my monitor during my first onsite:

Do

Ask “dumb” questions early. Saves pain later
Say what you’re thinking as you go. Out loud. Yes, really.
Write code that’s boring and works. Bonus points if it’s readable.
Mention tradeoffs without sounding like a textbook.

Don’t

Sit in silence when stuck. Shrink the problem and keep talking.
Get cute with tricks. Just solve it.
Ignore hints. If they’re talking, they want you to succeed.

Don’t Skip the Night-Before Stuff

I treat the night before like pre-fight rituals. Same hoodie. Same playlist. One warm-up problem I’ve done 10 times before is missing. No surprises.

Tech setup? Boring is good. Open Zoom early. Mic check. Cam check. No Chrome tabs with distractions.Breathe. Literally. Like box breathing if that’s your thing. Talk out loud while solving, even if it feels silly. You’re training your brain to think with an audience.

After the interview? Write stuff down, even if it sucked, especially if it sucked. You’ll forget the pain. Don’t forget the lesson.

Build a Weekly Practice Schedule You’ll Actually Stick To

Forget motivation. Build a schedule that runs on autopilot. Mine looked like this when I was grinding:

4 coding sessions/week
1 system design session
1 behavioral prep
1 full mock interview
Flashcards daily.
Missed problems? Revisit them 3 days later, then 1 week, then 2. (Yes, that spaced repetition thing works.)

Don’t just track hours. Track wins. Did a mock? Fixed a dumb bug? Explained recursion to your dog, and does it make sense? When I felt nervous, I’d simplify and pick one thing I knew I could show clearly. Not everything. Just one. That alone kept my confidence from imploding.

How I Run Mock Interviews Without Sounding Like a Panic Robot

Why mock interviews saved me from blanking mid-sentence

I used to go into interviews thinking, “I’ve solved 200 LeetCode problems, I got this.” But the moment I had to speak out loud while coding? My brain turned into mashed potatoes.

Mock interviews fixed that.

They’re not about getting the “right” answer. They’re about getting used to the pressure, thinking out loud without falling apart. Every time you rehearse that, your brain gets less jumpy. Your mouth stops lagging. Your answers stop rambling. It’s not magic. It’s reps.

If you’re still freezing during interviews, this is where I’d start.

Make it feel like a real interview (no fake vibe)

Pick questions that match the job you’re aiming for. Backend? You need DS/Algos, system design, and maybe concurrency. Frontend? DOM stuff, browser performance, mini UI tasks. SRE or platform? Think debugging logs and fire-fighting.

Use platforms that don't make you hate your life, LeetCode, CodeSignal, CoderPad, or just VSCode + screen share.

Add pressure. Set a timer. Clear your screen. Record everything. Talk like someone’s watching because eventually, they will be.

Time suggestions:

30–45 min = Phone screen
45–60 min = Technical round
60–90 min = System design round

The goal isn’t to perform. It’s to practice performing.

My Step-By-Step Guide for Running A Focused Mock Interview

This is how I run mocks for myself, and for friends I’ve coached.

1. Before Starting

Send the job description, share your resume, agree on time limits, and double-check your setup. No excuses mid-call.

2. Warm Up With Behavioral Stuff (5 Min)

Just enough to settle nerves. “Tell me about a time…” blah blah. Treat it like stretching before deadlifts.

3. Read The Prompt Out Loud

Train yourself to actually read and clarify instead of speed-running to code.

4. Plan First

No code yet. Talk about tradeoffs. Give a Big O guess. Draw the shape of the thing. Timebox 10 min.

5. Pseudocode > Code

Write down function names or scaffolding. Don’t dive in with a blank file.

6. Talk Through Small Tests

Check edge cases, throw in weird inputs, and speak your thought process. Show you’re not just guessing.

7. Hit Bugs? Narrate It

What broke, why, and how you fixed it. Interviewers care more about how you debug than if you make a typo.

8. Wrap With A Summary

Restate the solution, time/space tradeoffs, and what you’d fix next. Let them know the story isn’t over yet.

Mock interviews aren’t just drills. They’re scripts. Practice saying “Why I chose this” or “What if input size doubles?” until it sounds like second nature.

What I review after each mock (and how I actually tracked progress)

Finish your mock? Cool. Now write it down while it’s still fresh.

Here’s my quick log format:

Date
Problem source
Time spent
Result (pass/fail/flop?)
2 things to fix

Then I ask whoever played the interviewer:

“Where did I lose clarity?”
“What would you have asked next?”
“Which part of my code was messy?”

Don’t wait until the day before your Google screen to fix your feedback loop. You’re not a machine, but you can run better if you pay attention.

I used to track speed. Now I track clarity. Pick one to start with. They’re both lagging indicators of improvement.

What I Actually Got Out of Doing Mock Interviews (Not Just "Practice Makes Perfect" Nonsense)

When I first started prepping for big tech interviews, I treated mock interviews like a box to check. “Just do a few,” I thought. Wrong. The moment I started treating them like dress rehearsals instead of homework, my prep leveled up fast. Here's how they actually helped, not hypothetically, but in the trenches.

1. You Stop Freezing When The Clock’s Ticking

Real interviews feel different even when you know your stuff. Simulating that pressure helped me get used to solving under a time limit without fumbling. You learn to make quick decisions instead of spiraling in your head.

2. You Figure Out How Long Everything Actually Takes

The first few mocks? I spent way too long writing the perfect function and had zero time left to test. After a few more, I got ruthless about budgeting: 3 mins to think, 12 to build, 5 to clean and test. Repeat that rhythm enough, and it starts to stick.

3. You Get Better At Not Sounding Like A Robot

Talking through your thoughts is a skill. You don’t magically wake up knowing how to explain a trade-off clearly. Mock interviews gave me space to practice saying things like, “I’m choosing this approach because...” instead of just typing silently like it’s a take-home.

4. You Notice Weird Habits You’d Never Catch On Your Own

I didn’t realize I stared at the screen without blinking when I got stuck. Or that I interrupted hints. Or that I didn’t smile once. All of that matters especially in final rounds when they're reading your energy, not just your code.

5. You See What You Actually Don’t Know

Mocks exposed the holes. The missing graph method, the fuzzy regex edge case, and the fact that I couldn’t recall how Python heaps work without Googling. That became my hit list for the next week.

How to Run Mocks Like the People Who Might Interview You

The way you run a mock matters. If you treat it like a random LeetCode call with your friend, you won’t get much out of it. Here’s how I made mine count:

1. Choose The Right Kind Of Problem

Don’t just grab the top 100 list and call it a day. Match the company vibe. Meta was heavy on recursion and edge cases. TikTok leaned system design. Pick questions that reflect where you’re aiming.

2. Don’t Go It Alone

You want someone who's seen both sides, either someone in the role or someone who’s been on the other side of the table. Friends are fine. Mock platforms are great too, when your DMs are dry.

3. Ask For Blunt Feedback

I’d always ask: “Would you hire me after that?” followed by, “What one thing would make you say yes next time?” You don’t need a performance review. You need the thing you missed that actually cost you.

4. Switch It Up

I’d run 30-minute phone screen style mocks one day, 60-minute whiteboard simulations the next. Occasionally, I’d even run back-to-back mocks. It kept me on my toes and made me flexible.

5. Review, Then Tweak

If your notes are just “do better next time,” you’re wasting your time. I’d jot down: what felt off, what I blanked on, and what I want to test again next week. No fluff. Just a working list.

Turning Feedback Into Fixes (Without Getting in Your Head)

Getting feedback is only half the battle. You’ve got to build the muscle of fixing it. Here's how I kept it useful instead of overwhelming:

1. Ask For One Sharp Thing To Change

I always asked, “What’s one thing that would’ve made this go 10% better?” One thing is doable. Five is a breakdown waiting to happen. I’d write that one thing down and come back to it the next day.

2. Make It Part Of Your Drills

If I was too quiet? I’d record myself solving a problem and force myself to explain it to a fake camera. If I blanked on binary search edge cases? I’d solve three versions every morning that week. Boring? Maybe. But it worked.

Quick Mock Interview Checklist (What I Use Myself)

Before

Check your tools: video, IDE, timer
Confirm what kind of problem you’re having
Set the time limit. Stick to it.

During

Say the problem out loud
Ask clarifying questions (even if you think you know it)
Sketch an approach before coding
Narrate your thought process like a voice-over
Test with at least three cases, not just the happy path

After

Take 10 mins max for notes
Ask for 1–2 bullet points of feedback
Schedule the next mock before you leave

What Are You Going to Fix in Your Next Mock?

Pick one thing. Just one.
Say it out loud. Write it down.
Then fix it in your next session.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be 5% sharper than last time.

Telling Your Developer Story Without Sounding Like Everyone Else

Start With One Sentence That Actually Sounds Like You

Forget the résumé buzzwords. Start by writing one honest sentence about what you like building and how you approach it. Not what you think recruiters want to hear, but what you actually enjoy doing. Are you the person who makes backend systems less of a mess? Are you obsessed with UI polish and small accessibility details most people miss? Do you catch bugs before QA does?

That sentence becomes your north star. It shows up in your resume header, your GitHub bio, and your “tell me about yourself” answer. Everything else should orbit around it.

The goal? Consistency. Not because branding is some LinkedIn influencer thing, but because it makes your story easier to follow when people are skimming your profile in 12 seconds.

Pick the Stuff That Actually Changed You

The best interview stories aren’t the ones with fancy tech stacks. They’re the ones where something clicked.

Go back and find 3-5 moments that taught you something real:

That one fire-drill sprint where you actually had to read logs and fix a prod bug before lunch.
The side project where you realized you’d been ignoring accessibility your whole career.
The pull request where a senior dev pushed back on your architecture, and you ended up rethinking everything.

Capture what happened, what you did, and what changed in how you think about building software. This isn’t about sounding smart, it’s about sounding real.

Turn the Stories Into Resume Bullets That Aren’t BS

Here’s the trick to writing bullets that don’t feel made up: pretend you're explaining the story to a friend who also codes.

Bad

Led cross-functional team to develop scalable solution.

Better

Shipped an internal tool that cut deployment time from 15 minutes to 3 minutes.

Use numbers when you have them. Use short, punchy verbs. Show the outcome. Then take those same stories and turn them into actual case studies on your portfolio with screenshots, repo links, maybe even a scrappy Loom walkthrough if you’re feeling fancy.

And when it’s interview time, you already have your two-minute and five-minute versions ready to go. You’re not scrambling to remember which project used Kafka and which one had the GraphQL endpoint with that weird consistency bug.

Talk About What Changed: Not Just What You Did

A lot of devs list tasks. Hiring managers are looking for results.

Don’t just say “built dashboard.” Say “added dashboard that helped the team spot auth failures 3x faster.”

No access to prod metrics? Cool. Use benchmarks you ran locally. Or user feedback. Or anecdotal stories. Just don’t stop at “I did X,” tell us why it mattered.

Bonus points if you mention fundamental tools: Datadog, Postman, Cypress, Jest, whatever helped you prove it worked.

Talk Like a Builder, Not a Stack List

Tech choices matter, but only if you can explain why you made them.

If you picked Redis over Postgres for caching, say so. If you hit a performance wall because your Lambda function was cold-starting like crazy, talk about that. If you ditched REST for GraphQL and regretted it three weeks later, that’s a great story.

Hiring managers don’t want you to regurgitate buzzwords. They want to hear your thought process. Show them you’ve been in the trenches, made tradeoffs, and have the scars to prove it.

Skip the Buzzwords. Here’s What Actually Helped Me Get the Job.

When I was prepping for interviews, I wasn’t trying to impress people with big, shiny words. I was just trying not to suck. I knew I had gaps. So I made it a point to keep receipts on how I was getting better. I’d log every bug I didn’t understand.

Every design I botched. Every moment, I froze on a whiteboard. I kept a little file with stuff like: “learned how a heap actually works,” or “finally figured out the difference between Docker and magic.” It wasn’t sexy, but when interviewers asked about failures, I didn’t make up some fake-sounding humblebrag. I pulled real stories and what I did after. That’s what landed offers.

Show What the Project Was For, Not Just What It Used

Too many folks write project blurbs like they're trying to impress a compiler. “React. Node.js. Mongo.” Cool. But what were you even doing? Tell them the actual point of the project. Was it for fun? For users? For class? For a startup idea you abandoned because nobody wanted it (been there)? Then, walk through your part:

What broke?
What did you fix?
What would you do differently next time?

If you’re feeling fancy, draw a diagram or use bullets to show how the pieces talk to each other, especially the ones you built. I did this for a side project, and it legit became the entire technical part of one of my Amazon interviews.

Use Code Snippets Like You’re Teaching Your Past Self

When you include code, think of it like showing your friend how you solved something the hard way so they don’t suffer. Don’t just paste in pretty functions. Pick stuff that makes your thinking obvious, a helper function that shows you know how to break things up.

A unit test that clearly defines behavior. A comment where you handled a weird edge case nobody warned you about. Bonus points if you link the whole file or GitHub PR so they can see how it changed over time. Add quick notes like:

“I structured it this way so we don’t re-fetch the same data.”
“This is where we had a memory issue in prod.”

Show your thought process. That’s what they’re buying.

Walk Me Through How You Actually Work a Problem

Forget brain dumps. Give me the play-by-play. When you hit a tricky bug, what did you check first? Did you pull logs? Comment stuff out? Scream into a pillow and try again in 20 minutes? (Relatable.) Talk through your pattern for tackling problems. Mine usually goes:

Ask too many clarifying questions
Draw dumb boxes on paper
Panic about time
Start coding and fix it later

Also, mention things like “used a set to avoid O(n²) loop” or “used locks because async stuff got weird.” They want to know what you think, not just type fast.

Talk in Numbers, Not Feelings

If something got faster, cheaper, or actually worked, say how much. If you don’t have live data, that's fine. Use local benchmarks. Say stuff like:

“Cut cold start time by ~30% after lazy-loading modules.”
“Brought error rate from 12% to under 1%.”
“Moved test coverage from 60% to 85% in a week.”

That tells me you care about results, not just code for code’s sake. It’s what turned my “meh” internship resume into one that got callbacks from Meta.

Stuff That Actually Matters in Technical Interviews (Beyond Just Writing Code)

Show What You Actually Did on a Team, Don’t Just Say “We”

If you’re going into an interview saying, “We built this” or “The team shipped that,” congratulations, you just made yourself invisible. I learned this the hard way after my first couple of mock interviews were basically me narrating Jira tickets. What interviewers care about is whether you lead a feature. Review others’ code? Mentor someone? Did you save a broken deploy at 2 AM? That’s what sticks.

If you paired with someone to figure out a gnarly bug, or wrangled a design review to settle an API contract across three teams, say that. Mention the tools you used, such as Git branching, PR workflows, whatever, but only if they support your story. Don’t just list tech for the sake of sounding busy.

Don’t Just “Learn,” Ship Something

A lot of devs say they’re “always learning.” Cool. So are most people on YouTube at 2 AM. What matters is whether you did something with what you learned.

If you read a system design book, did you rebuild one of your projects with it in mind? If you watched a conference talk on caching, did you actually try implementing a TTL (Time-to-Live) policy on your own service? Even a tiny PR to an open-source repo is better than a list of tutorials you didn’t finish. Link it. Show it. That’s what gets you remembered.

Speak Like a Human, Not a Resume

Practice talking about your work in plain English. You need to be able to explain what your project does in 30 seconds and then expand when needed. For interviews, that means:

Practicing how you explain how stuff works (architecture, logic, tradeoffs)
Getting used to switching gears: from high-level summary to edge-case detail
Asking the interviewer thoughtful questions, not just waiting for your turn to talk

I always treat interviews like pair programming sessions. I’m trying to build trust, not pitch a TED Talk.

Don’t Just Show a Repo: Show That It Works

If you’re bringing a project into a live interview, don’t just pray it compiles. Run it. Click through the flows. Then flip to the code and show something interesting, maybe how you wrote the test suite or fixed a nasty bug.

Bonus points if you’ve got a stripped-down local version that won’t melt your laptop on Zoom. Be ready to debug live if they throw you a “what happens if…” curveball. It’s not about perfection; it’s about showing that you know your code cold and can work through issues in real time.

Match Your Projects to the Job: Not Just What You’re Proud Of

Early on, I made the mistake of showing off projects that I thought were cool, even if they had zero overlap with the job I wanted. Huge mistake.

Before an interview, I map the job description to my own projects. Backend-heavy job? I talk about API reliability, query optimization, rate limits, etc. Frontend role? I pull up my most recent work on UI state management or accessibility testing. The more your examples look like their day-to-day, the faster they see you as “already on the team.”

Take Feedback Like a Pro (and Actually Use It)

Here’s the cheat code: people who grow fast are the ones who treat feedback like a feature request, not an insult.

In interviews or even mock interviews, don’t get defensive. Got told your code wasn’t readable? Show the refactor. Found out your design missed some edge cases? Bring version 2. Show the before-and-after. Mention dates or commit links if it helps. Real growth > empty confidence.

That’s also true with Interview Coder. I’ve failed mock interviews inside the platform, reviewed the replays, changed my explanations, and then passed the real ones. That’s the loop. Keep it tight, keep it honest.

Nail Coding Interviews with our AI Interview Assistant − Get Your Dream Job Today

Grinding 300 LeetCode problems was the only way to land big tech offers. Spoiler: I burned out, plateaued, and still choked in a few interviews. What changed? I stopped trying to brute-force my way through it. Interview Coder let me shift focus from “type fast, hope it runs” to actually thinking like an engineer. You prep better when you’re not drowning in syntax and edge cases every session.

What InterviewCoder Actually Does When It’s Go Time

When the timer starts in a mock or a real interview, Interview Coder jumps in like your quiet co-pilot. It writes working code, adds unit tests, gives you quick takes on time complexity, and throws in cleaner refactors, all while staying hidden on screen share. No fancy setups. No toggling tabs. Just you, the question, and smart backup. The first time it flagged an off-by-one bug mid-interview for me? Felt like cheating, but legal.

Getting Better at Interviews Without Losing Your Mind

You still need to know your stuff. But Interview Coder helps you get there faster, whether it’s linked lists, DP, graphs, or that one annoying tree traversal you keep blanking on. It’ll catch mistakes before the interviewer does and surface smart variable names, solid test cases, and talking points so you don’t just survive the session, you sound sharp. When you’re not stuck debugging in real time, you actually have space to show how you think.

Proof? Ask the 87,000+ Engineers Using It.

I didn’t build Interview Coder to “improve workflows” or whatever buzzword people throw around. I built it because I was tired of bombing interviews over dumb mistakes, fumbling time complexity, rambling my way through whiteboard questions, and blanking on system design structure.

87,000+ developers have used this tool to clean up their answers and walk into interviews sharper. Some landed at Amazon, others at Meta, TikTok, Airbnb, and early-stage YC startups. Real companies. Real offers. Real results.

You know what helped the most? Rewatching exactly where they stumbled and tightening it up the next day. You’ll start spotting your patterns. Fast.

Set up That Doesn’t Suck

Install the app. Connect your editor. Hit practice mode. That’s it.

You’ll get mock interviews that don’t feel like homework. It’s your environment, your pace. Want to grind dynamic programming? Cool. Prefer just to rehearse how not to talk in circles during system design? That’s here too.

The idea is to get better where you’re weak, not repeat the same LeetCode problem 40 times, like it’s gonna unlock some secret badge.

“Is This Cheating?” (No. Next Question.)

I get this one a lot. “Roy, doesn’t using a tool like this mess with the point of prep?” No. Not unless your goal is to stay stuck. Interview Coder doesn’t hand you answers. It forces you to hear how you sound under pressure. It shows you what you do when your brain short-circuits at runtime. It gives you space to tighten your thinking before the real call.

If anything, it’s more complicated than a real interview because you can’t lie to yourself on replay.

Ready to Stop Guessing?

I used Interview Coder to land offers from Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. I still use it when I’m brushing up. If you're sick of spinning your wheels on prep and wondering if it’s working, try it free. Download the app. Try a mock. And if it helps? Keep going. If not? At least you’ll know what’s not working. Start practicing smarter with Interview Coder. Free. Join the newsletter for real interview tips from engineers who’ve been through it