Ask HN: What do you do if you can't pass technical interviews?

I just received yet another rejection email, tonally similar to many of the others I've gotten. This paragraph in particular sticks out [problem details omitted]:

"This was a tough decision. We enjoyed talking with you and saw strengths through various parts of the interview, in particular on the [design discussion] and [list traversal] problems. However we made the final decision because we didn't see the overall level of coding we're looking for, especially during the [interactive terminal-based application] problem. The rate of progress on this problem wasn't as fast as we'd hoped and we weren't able to build a nice, generic solution within the time available. There was also a fair amount of confusion on the out of bounds issue, which we feel was the type of bug that would have been caught faster by a more experienced engineer."

This is a pattern: when I'm given a trivial code problem or a design problem, I tend to do well, but live coding and whiteboards are trouble because I frequently make tiny mistakes (always unrelated to my understanding of the underlying algorithm). I know this about myself as a coder, which is why I obsessively test my own code to catch my own errors.

But, especially under stress, these mistakes are continuing to cost me job opportunities. I've purchased cracking the coding interview, programming interviews exposed, and I've done scores of practise questions online at sites like HackerRank, but I keep hearing the same thing back: "You're clearly smart, but you didn't do well on the whiteboard, so fuck off." I've heard some variation of that nearly a dozen times in the past six months.

I'm at my wits end. I'm consumed with self doubt (which doesn't help in the interviews). I'm depressed, I don't know what is wrong with me, and I don't know what more I can do.

Should I just burn my CS degree and get a job a burger king? At the very least the interview would be shorter.

I have a whiteboard. I have been studying. I have been practising. But over and over I make a few tiny errors in front of an audience and sink my chances. I think I must just be broken.

When you don't pass technical interviews, you make a resolve to practice more and pass them.

[I run http://InterviewKickstart.com for a living]

Following are some very common mistakes people make when preparing for technical interviews.

1. They code, but they don't invite feedback on their code. Nor do they compare their code with other people's code. So they solve problems, but they never know if their solution was sufficient. They don't get better, despite solving problems.

Avoid this mistake: When you prep on leetcode.com or some such, read other people's solutions line by line, understand and compare. Yes, that takes time.

2. They don't do mock interviews with practicing engineers

Avoid this mistake: Find a friend or mentor who works at a brand name company and do a strictly graded mock interview or two (or more). That will reveal a lot of things your coding practice won't. You could also practice with fellow learners (interview each other), which will help lower the stress in actual interviews (though won't be as useful as doing it with a practicing engineer).

3. They practice very few problems

Avoid this mistake: If you're coming from a top-20 4-year CS program, or you have an IQ of 130+, you won't need a lot of practice. But for everyone else, don't stop until you've practiced at least about 150 problems. Anything less won't help and worse, might give you false confidence.

And when you're in the interview, try asking the interviewer if you can solve the same problem on your computer or on a piece of paper. You'll be surprised how many people will let you do it.

HTH.

(1) Be genuinely thankful that you got the level of detailed feedback that you did. Many employers love to basically go dark on candidates after they decide they don't meet the bar (or don't make the unanimous team vote, whatever). To get either a simple "Thank you, but No" with no detailed feedback -- or, quite often, no follow-up of any kind at all; just crickets -- isn't the exception; it's almost become the general rule.

(2) That said, do take what they're saying seriously, but feel free also to take it with a grain of salt. Generally, interviewers greatly underestimate the effects of stress (the fact that interviews are typically quite dreadful experiences for many candidates) and the sheer cognitive overload of parsing the problem statement, explaining your thought process to a person you don't know very well (and who may be judging you quite harshly) while you are solving the problem, and crucially, guessing the level of optimization your interviewer is secretly looking for (e.g. maintainability versus quick-and-dirty) have on candidate performance.

If you're just stressed an anxious, try practicing mindfulness or try practicing taking a bunch of pills beforehand.