Muhammed's Blog

Technical Interviews Without the Anxiety

How to Prepare, What to Expect, and How to Actually Pass

3 min read

I bombed my first 8 technical interviews. Then I learned the system. Now interviews are conversations. Here’s what changed.

The Brutal Truth

Most tech interviews test:

  • Algorithm puzzles
  • Obscure data structures
  • Coding under pressure
  • Whiteboarding without Google

Not tested: actual job skills, teamwork, shipping features, debugging production.

But the system exists. Learn to beat it.

Interview Types & Prep

1. Algorithm/Data Structures (LeetCode)

Learn 15-20 patterns, not 500 problems:

  • Two Pointers
  • Sliding Window
  • Fast & Slow Pointers
  • Binary Search
  • Trees & Graphs
  • Dynamic Programming

Do 2-3 problems daily for 4-6 weeks. Focus on understanding patterns, not memorizing.

Must-do: Two Sum, Valid Parentheses, Merge Sorted Lists, Level Order Traversal, Number of Islands, LRU Cache.

Use Pramp for mock interviews with real people.

2. System Design

Framework:

  1. Clarify (5 min): How many users? Read/write ratio? Scale? Consistency vs availability?
  2. High-level (10 min): Draw boxes—Client → Load Balancer → Servers → Database/Cache
  3. Deep dive (20 min): Detail 2-3 components—schema, caching, scaling
  4. Trade-offs (5 min): SQL vs NoSQL? Time vs space? Consistency vs availability?

Resources: System Design Primer, Grokking the System Design Interview.

3. Behavioral (STAR Framework)

Situation → Task → Action → Result

Prepare 8-10 stories covering leadership, conflict, failure, success, learning, teamwork.

Example:

Q: “Tell me about a time you learned something quickly.”

A: “At my job, we needed to rebuild our dashboard in React, but I’d only used Vue. I had 3 weeks. I blocked off mornings—did docs, built 3 projects, pair-programmed with a senior React dev. After 2 weeks, I shipped features. Team lead said my code matched experienced React devs.”

4. Take-Home Projects

Do:

  • Follow instructions exactly
  • Write clean, tested code
  • Add README with setup
  • Include git history showing progress
  • Use industry patterns

Don’t:

  • Over-engineer
  • Skip tests
  • Submit messy code
  • Add features not requested

During the Interview

Physical prep (30 min before): Drink water, stretch, deep breaths.

Mental prep (10 min before): Review notes, positive self-talk, remember you’re interviewing them too.

When solving problems:

  1. Think out loud - explain your approach
  2. Ask clarifying questions - “Empty input?” “Negative numbers?”
  3. Start with brute force - then optimize
  4. Test your code - trace through examples
  5. Discuss trade-offs - time vs space, simplicity vs optimization
"Okay, we need longest substring without repeats.
Brute force: Check every substring—O(n³).
Better: Sliding window with hash map—O(n) time, O(n) space.
Should we optimize space?"

When stuck: Don’t panic. Say: “I’m thinking… one approach could be X, but I’m not sure about Y. Could you hint?”

Interviewers want you to succeed. They’re rooting for you.

After Each Round

Take notes: What went well? What struggled? Then let it go.

Red Flags (For You)

Interviewer is rude. Team miserable. No clear growth path. Vague about culture (“we’re a family” = no boundaries).

You can decline offers.

If You Don’t Get It

It’s not personal. Ask for feedback. Review what happened. Keep applying.

I got rejected by Google (3x), Facebook, Amazon. But I got offers from startups I loved where I grew faster than I would at FAANG.

The right job is where you learn and are happy. Not necessarily the most prestigious.

8-Week Study Plan

  • Weeks 1-2: Data Structures (2 easy problems/day)
  • Weeks 3-4: Common Patterns (2-3 medium/day)
  • Weeks 5-6: Trees & Graphs (2-3 medium/day)
  • Week 7: System Design
  • Week 8: Mock interviews

Throughout: Prepare STAR stories, research companies, practice talking through solutions.

Resources

  • LeetCode for practice
  • NeetCode for pattern approach
  • Pramp for free mock interviews
  • Write down STAR stories, practice out loud

The Mental Game

You’re qualified or you wouldn’t be interviewing. The interviewer wants you to succeed. It’s a conversation, not an interrogation. One bad interview doesn’t define you.

Confidence comes from preparation.

Technical interviews suck. But they’re a game you can learn to play.

Prepare systematically. Practice consistently. Stay calm.

The right job will come. Keep going.

Now go crush those interviews.