Coding Assessment (API Call and Data Validation):

This is an easy problem that can be solved with a couple of hashmaps; don’t overthink it. If you’re stuck on, "You're almost there, you have a couple of minor bugs in your code," re-read the task and the text in bold carefully.

Live Coding:

This was a LeetCode easy-style problem – not word-for-word copied, but you can find similar ones. I recommend practicing explaining your thinking out loud. They’re not looking for a perfect solution and will give you a ton of hints.

System Design:

Read the reviews. I encountered the most common problem mentioned. Do mock interviews, draw diagrams, and practice beforehand. I had very little experience in system design, but roleplaying questions from Glassdoor and learning to draw diagrams quickly helped me ace it. The interviewer was also very well-spoken and supportive.

Behavioral:

This was a difficult interview for me and, unfortunately, the most important one.

"Tell me about a time you had to do X at company Y." I prepared 10 stories for different scenarios but wasn’t prepared for that turn of events. "I don’t have an example from company Y, but I had a similar experience at company Z" was not sufficient.

All questions about your strengths (leadership, solving technical challenges, delivering on a tight deadline) will revolve around your last job or the last 2–2.5 years of your career. If you had less than 3–4 years at your last place of work and simply didn't have the time to acquire enough stories, you might be in for a difficult experience.

Tell me about a time when you were at Company X and made an architecture decision, but then your team member convinced you to choose a different approach.