Technical interviews may seem intimidating for many engineers. The feeling of knowing the outcome may drive many of us away. However, technical interviews have certain requirements, and anyone can prepare for them to perform better in those sessions.
Here are the 3 exercises you can do before you start preparing for your technical interview.
1. Understand why you want to interview
It might seem obvious, but many of us go on interviews without thinking much about why we interview at a company. It’s very common that one feels very frustrated about their current job and immediately starts to interview at other companies.
If we head in the wrong direction, the more we try, the “more wrong” we get. Asking ourselves what we want is that intentional step to ensure we are heading in the right direction.
2. Research technical interview resources
Technical interviews have been around for quite some time, and many people have figured out and shared their experiences online. There are many resources online that can help us mentally and emotionally prepare for interview interviews.
Take time to research those resources. Do not just randomly search materials as needed, compile a list of resources that can address the areas that we care about. Below are some resources I use for interview prep:
- Coding practice – LeetCode
- System design practice & algorithm – Geeksforgeeks
- Mindset blogpost – Get 5 top silicon valley offers in 5 days
3. Set up a time & routine for technical interviews
Technical interviews can be viewed as “necessary evil” – an artificial test that doesn’t reflect real-life engineering situations, but nonetheless requires fundamental technical knowledge and intellectual stamina.
The good news is that that skills can be trained in a short amount of time. It’s like going to a gym to exercise for the desired performance (e.g. endurance, leg strength, etc.). And just like going to the gym, having an established time of routine can help us improve rapidly.
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