How to ace any developer interview in 12 weeks
There’s no way around it — the job market for software developers right now is extremely competitive.
This post was originally from the Educative Blog
5% of software engineering job applicants at top companies get selected for an initial screening. On average, less than 1% of all applicants get an offer. Whether you're selected for a first, second, or third interview, you need to ensure you're equipped to perform as best you can.
Luckily, the software engineering interview is a formula that can be cracked. All it takes is the right prep plan.
We've formulated, workshopped, and tested a 12-week prep plan that has helped thousands of developers land dream roles at impressive companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Our goal is to demystify (and standardize) the full software developer interview loop and give you a structured plan for success.
The best part about this plan is that it can be easily adapted to fit different career specializations and even unique individual goals. We'll provide you with a boilerplate 12 weeks (that will work just fine for most devs), and you can fine-tune the outline to one that more acutely meets your needs.
Download the 12-Week Roadmap to Ace the Developer Interview!
Prepare with confidence
I have been on both sides of the interview table plenty of times in my career. I know how miserable it is to fail an interview, especially on one of the last rounds.
We all know that nailing your following interview can be the difference maker between an increased salary by tens of thousands of dollars or years of waiting for a promotion. That kind of pressure can be tough to deal with, especially in the heat of the moment.
Our interview prep plan will help give you the technical knowledge (and the confidence) to nail any interview loop you're selected for. Whether you're aiming for a top tech company with 10,000+ employees or a seed round startup, you can count on Educative to give you the right resources for the job.
A complete technical interview prep plan
The 12-week Roadmap to Acing the Developer Interview provides a structured approach to prioritizing your valuable prep time. This includes review topics, example questions, and high-value resources to help you understand critical technical concepts faster and easier than watching and re-watching videos.
We'll cover our plan briefly here, but if you want the full version, you can download the 12-Week Roadmap to Ace the Developer Interview.
The 12-week interview prep plan
Week 1:
Review the basics of your language of choice.
It doesn't matter what language you pick for your coding interview round, but it's best practice not to switch during the interview. Make sure you don't get tripped up by the softball questions at the beginning.
Week 2 and 3:
Study data structures and algorithms
Data structures and algorithms often constitute many of the more difficult questions in a coding interview. These complex topics take a lot of reviews, especially if you haven't paid much attention to them since first learning to code.
Week 4 and 5:
Practice with data structures and algorithms
After studying the key concepts of data structures and algorithms, it's time to start answering practice problems. Spending more time on this step is encouraged if you find yourself struggling with concepts like time and space complexity.
Week 6, 7, and 8:
Coding interview practice
Continue answering questions that are representative of those you may be asked in a real interview. Time yourself and see if you can finish the problems in 20 to 30 minutes. Pay specific attention to the patterns that emerge during your practice — mastering patterns rather than drilling tons of practice sets will help you prep much more efficiently.
Week 9:
Concurrency and multithreading
If you are aiming for a senior or staff-level engineering role, concepts like concurrency and multithreading may be integral to your success. If you are a less senior candidate, knowing the niche product requirements of the organization you are interested in will help determine the relevance of these high-level skills. Some industries prioritize concurrency and multithreading such that all of their engineers must possess a certain level of familiarity with these techniques.
Week 10, 11, and 12:
Prepare for a design interview
There are three main types of design interviews that you can expect.
Low-Level Design: Demonstrate competency with object-oriented programming and design principles (primarily for junior developers)
API/Product Design: Showcase API development aptitude (primarily for product engineers and managers)
System Design: Assess and plan architectural solutions to solve software challenges (primarily for software architects and senior developers)
Why choose Educative?
Our platform offers 700+ courses built by developers for developers. All of our courses are text-based, so you can find the information you need without wasting time watching long video lessons.
Each interview-prep course is written and structured with real-world interview loops in mind. We pay careful attention to how developer interviews change and evolve over time, and we make sure that our users are the best-prepared candidates on the market.
Educative offers more than just interview prep, though. Even after you land a great job, our platform will teach you new skills, refresh old ones, and ultimately help you navigate the gap from individual contributor (IC) to manager. No matter what stage of your career you are in, your career goals need structure before you can achieve them.
Download the 12-Week Roadmap to Ace the Developer Interview:
As always, happy learning!