💼 Career Prep

Interview Preparation

Coding rounds, behavioral interviews, system design — everything you need before your next interview.

🧠 Round 1

Coding Interview Checklist

Cover these patterns to handle 80% of LeetCode-style interview questions.

📦
Arrays & Two Pointers
Pair sum, remove duplicates, sorted array problems
🪟
Sliding Window
Maximum subarray, longest substring, minimum window
🔍
Binary Search
Template approach, rotated arrays, search in answer space
🌳
Trees (DFS + BFS)
Level order, path problems, lowest common ancestor
🕸️
Graph Traversal
Connected components, topological sort, shortest path
⚡
Dynamic Programming
1D, 2D, interval, bitmask DP patterns
📚
Stack & Queue Patterns
Monotonic stack, next greater element, sliding window max
300×250 Rectangle Ad — Google AdSense
🗣️ Round 2

Behavioral Interview (HR Round)

Use the STAR method for every behavioral question. Practice these 10 common prompts.

S

Situation

Set the context. What was the scenario?

T

Task

What was your specific responsibility?

A

Action

What steps did YOU take? (Use "I", not "we")

R

Result

What was the outcome? Quantify if possible.

🤔
"Tell me about yourself"
60-second pitch: who you are, what you study, what you've built.
💪
"Describe a challenge you overcame"
Show problem-solving + persistence with real examples.
🤝
"Tell me about a time you worked in a team"
Conflict resolution + collaboration story.
🎯
"Why do you want to join us?"
Research the company. Mention a specific product/mission.
🚀
"Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
Show growth mindset, align with company trajectory.
🏗️ Round 3

System Design (for SDE-1/Internship Level)

Even as a fresher, understanding basic system design separates you from other candidates.

🔑 Key Concepts to Know

Load balancers, caching (Redis), databases (SQL vs NoSQL), REST APIs, message queues, CDN, horizontal vs vertical scaling.

🏗️ Practice These Designs

Design a URL shortener (like bit.ly), Design a basic Twitter feed, Design a chat application, Design a rate limiter.

📖 Resources

System Design Primer (GitHub), ByteByteGo YouTube channel, "Designing Data-Intensive Applications" book (advanced).

🌟 General Interview Tips

Think Out Loud

Interviewers want to see your thought process. Talk through your approach before coding.

Clarify Before Coding

Ask 2–3 clarifying questions. It shows you think about edge cases and requirements.

Brute Force First

Start with the obvious solution, then optimize. Getting a working solution > getting nothing.

Test Your Code

Manually trace through 2–3 test cases including edge cases before saying you're done.

Ask Questions at the End

"What does the team culture look like?" shows you're thoughtful and genuinely interested.

Mock Interviews

Use Pramp, InterviewBit, or pair with a friend. Real-time practice > solo grinding.