Mock Technical Interviews
About a month ago I posted on LinkedIn offering Mock Technical Interviews in order to help people prepare to land a job in the tech industry. I had a lot of people sign up and had some amazing conversations with a variety of aspiring engineers. In the end, I scheduled over 50 mock interviews (30 minutes per interview).
I am looking to scale up the mock interviews and am even bringing on two trusted colleagues to help more people. We are especially interested in helping folks from underrepresented backgrounds who are attempting to pursue a career in tech.
Due to the decent number (about 1/3) of no-shows in my original batch, however, I am adding a refundable deposit system to these interviews.
Sign Up Instructions
In order to sign up for a Mock Interview, follow these steps:
- Fill out this form with the necessary information to schedule the interview. There will be a list of interview slots you can pick from on the form. Note: All of the slots are on East Coast time. Please do not sign up for more than one slot within a 2 week period. If there are no more slots left, don't worry! We will add more each week. You can sign up for an email list (details below) to be notified when we add more slots.
- As soon as you fill out the form for the mock interview, a calendar invite will be sent to you along with the Zoom link (and password if necessary). Please accept it to confirm your attendance.
- Send a $5 deposit through one of the following mediums: Venmo (@Mock-Interviews-Puneet), PayPal (puneet.sachdeva49@gmail.com), or Zelle (puneet.sachdeva49@gmail.com). The money will be returned to you through the same platform. In the description please include your full name.
- As soon as you enter the Zoom room for your mock interview, or if you give at least 12 hours notice that you cannot attend, the deposit will be immediately returned to you. If you do not attend the interview and do not give notice, the money will be used to cover the tools I use for organizing these interviews (Zoom, Airtable, etc.) and any excess will be donated to Black Girls Code.
If you do not feel comfortable sending the $5, shoot me an email at puneet.sachdeva49@gmail.com and we can discuss!
Why the deposit?
I enjoy doing mock interviews and helping people prepare to enter the industry, especially during these times. My goal is in no way to make money off of this. But, these interviews do take up time and any time lost due to no-shows could be spent helping other candidates.
If this deposit presents a financial hardship, I do not want that to get in the way of preparing you for mock interviews. Go ahead and sign up and shoot me an email at puneet.sachdeva49@gmail.com letting me know you will be attending but cannot cover the deposit, and I will confirm no questions asked.
What is the format for the mock interviews?
For the interview, you have two options:
- We can walk through one or two problems together in an effort to get more familiar with the topic(s), and go over some problem solving tips. This is less of a mock interview and more of an instructional session.
- We can do a traditional mock interview where we give you 1 question as an interviewer, we work on it for ~25 minutes, and then go through feedback.
When you sign up for a mock interview session, you will indicate which option you want to do.
Note: Parvathi (listed below) is focused on Option 1 for the interview format, so if you sign up for a slot with her you are signing up for the instructional session.
Who will be doing the interviewing?
We currently have 3 interviewers working on this initiative!
Puneet is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a B.S. degree in Computer Science. He is an incoming Software Engineer at LinkedIn. For 2 years at WashU, Puneet taught a course (Programming for Technical Interviews) focused on preparing for technical interviews by applying concepts taught in Data Structures and Algorithms. Due to the impact of Covid-19, he started this initiative to provide technical interview preparation to students on an already stressful application process. He is especially interested in helping underrepresented folks prepare to enter the tech industry.
Parvathi (Parv) is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a B.S. degree in Math and Computer Science. She is an incoming Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. Parv has been a TA for multiple math and computer science classes at WashU including Programming for Technical Interviews and Multi-Agent Systems. Parv is especially interested in helping women prepare to enter the tech industry and will be focused on the instructional format for interviews.
Jeremie Osaghae-Nosa
Jeremie is an incoming senior majoring in Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis. He has served as Head Teaching Assistant for Data Structures and Algorithms at WashU and as a TA for Programming for Technical Interviews for almost 2 years. Additionally, he was a Software Engineering Intern at LinkedIn last year and is currently interning at Oscar Health. In his last year at WashU, Jeremie will be Head TA of Programming for Technical Interviews.
There are no slots left but I would really like to sign up - what do I do?
Depending on how quickly the spots fill up and the overall demand for the mock interviews, I will look into adding more slots and bringing on more interviewers. If you are interested in being notified whenever more slots are posted and any other updates regarding my other technical interview preparation resources, you can sign up for a mailing list here. I will add new slots each week and will schedule as far as two weeks in advance.
Do you provide any other technical preparation resources?
I am currently working on a series called "Data Structures and Algorithms for Technical Interviews" which will be a set of videos that reviews all the topics relevant to interview problems (starting with Arrays and Strings and going all the way through Dynamic Programming). My plan is to not only teach the concepts but to provide insight on how you should be prepared to discuss them during interviews (what terminology to use, what sort of things to bring up, important facts to remember, etc.).
I will also walk through a few problems in these videos and discuss how to navigate them during the interview. This will include what sort of things you should discuss with your interviewer, questions to ask them, and how you can get unstuck during the process. If you are interested in checking out a very early version (a beta, if you will) of those videos then please fill out this form.
What if I have more questions or am just looking to learn more?
Always happy to chat! Shoot me an email at puneet.sachdeva49@gmail.com.