Why You're Bombing Technical Interviews Even When you are a great Engineer

You are a great engineer, your work is amazing and build features that everyone likes.

But when they put you in front of a virtual whiteboard with a stranger looking, you can't even remember anything and just stay silent like in school.

This isn't about your engineering skills.
It's about your interview skills, and yes, unfortunately they're completely different games.

Interviews don't test engineering ability.

That’s the truth, someone had to say it.

Great engineers fail interviews every day.
Mediocre engineers who've mastered the interview game get hired and make more money.

It's broken, but it's the game.
So you either learn to play it or keep getting rejected. Your choice

You're solving the wrong problem.

The interviewer doesn't just want the perfect answer, because there is no perfect answer.
What they really want is to see how you think and how you communicate your reasoning

You're working in silence.

In real work, you think in your mind then share results.
In interviews, thinking internally looks like you're stuck and have no clue on what to do

Talk through your approach.
Just talk, really, even if you’re going to say something wrong and correct yourself, it will be just better than staying silent

You're not managing the conversation.

You wait for them to ask questions instead of explaining what you're doing and why.

Take control. Make sure the conversation go where you want to go, this will make sure they’re following you and your reasoning

At the end of the day, no one cares.

Record yourself while doing a mock interview.

You can find plenty of material online

Watch it back.
Write down when you go silent, when your explanations are unclear, when you seem stuck, when you don’t make sense

Practice with real friend or coworkers.

You can also practice mock interviews with close friends or coworkers.
But you have to tell them to be brutally honest.
I’d rather get some harsh feedback in my mock interviews and crush the real one, that the other way around

Your engineering skills got you to the interview.

Your interview skills get you the job.

Master both side of the game, and you'll stop losing to engineers who aren't as good as you.

The best engineer doesn't always get hired.

The engineer who interviews best does.