Interview Strategies

Being successful at an interview is not just about practicing algorithm design or system design questions. There’s a whole other dimension to it, which is related to how you conduct yourself at an interview, how you think about the interview process, and how you behave.

To help you with this aspect, we’ve included some of the most common mistakes interviewees make during interviews. The stress (especially if you haven’t done enough Mock Interviews) is pretty high, and thus many well-prepared candidates make mistakes that we see over and over again. Hopefully, by reviewing them and observing yourself, you’ll avoid them at your interview.

Additionally, we thought we’d mention the top things interviewees forget to do at an interview. Make sure you understand them well.

The “5 Do’s” and “5 Don’ts” are supposed to be highly tactical: they are not some theoretical advice, but instead are solid practical tips which you can immediately apply at your next real or mock interview.

Finally, we want to once and for all define what an interview is all about. We’ve found that many candidates have an incorrect (or incomplete) philosophy when it comes to hiring. They misunderstand what the interviewers are looking for and think that just solving the problems they’re given is enough. It isn’t - and for good reasons. The final part of this section is going to cover this subject and show how we, interviewers, think.

What’s next?

Let’s start with 5 things that you should do at tech interviews.