The coding bootcamp student's guide to beating the technical interview
Interviewing for a software developer role is different from interviewing for other jobs. There's a particular interview process, involving technical phone screens and onsite whiteboard coding interviews.
You'll be asked to write code on the spot. Code that not only gets the correct answer, but also runs efficiently.
This may sound daunting, but the coding interview is a learnable skill. Just follow this guide.
1. Learn coding interview strategy
The key to being able to solve tricky coding interview questions is using a specific process and sticking to it:
- Brainstorm and design your algorithm by manipulating sample inputs by hand on the whiteboard. Don't start writing code until you know how your algorithm will work.
- Once you have an answer, code it up as quickly as possible. Don't get caught up in details like, "should this be a '<' or a '<='?" Just leave a mark in the margin to come back later, and move on. Don't start debugging it until it's all written out.
- Walk through your solution by hand, out loud, with an example input. Fix any bugs you find along the way.
The important lesson here is to never skip ahead. Only move on to the next step after finishing the last step. This keeps your thinking more organized, makes it easier for your interviewer to follow what you're doing, helps you avoid mistakes, and ultimately makes you move faster.
More coding interview strategy:
-
Coding interview tips
Make it feel like you're on a team, solve a simpler version of the problem first, and other tips. -
Tricks for getting unstuck during a coding interview
Getting stuck is stressful. But with the right strategies you can get unstuck quickly. -
Why you hit dead ends, and why that's okay
The coding interview is like a maze. A maze with several dead ends...
3. Conquer your impostor syndrome
This is a common issue for coding bootcamp graduates. They worry that they're not "real engineers."
Would it surprise you to learn that new graduates from four-year computer science programs feel the same way? It's true!
In the same way that you feel like you're not a real engineer because you're weak on the theoretical and mathy stuff, computer science majors feel like they're not real engineers because they're weak on modern software development practices, tools, and frameworks. Many of them don't know the first thing about making a webpage.
The point is, we all have weak points and gaps in our knowledge.
Read more:
Get the 7-day crash course!
In this free email course, you'll learn the right way of thinking for breaking down tricky algorithmic coding questions. No CS degree necessary.
{"id":40443156,"username":"2025-12-25_15:12:40_0#j-a&","email":null,"date_joined":"2025-12-25T15:12:40.996011+00:00","first_name":"","last_name":"","full_name":"","short_name":"friend","is_anonymous":true,"is_on_last_question":false,"percent_done":0,"num_questions_done":0,"num_questions_remaining":46,"is_full_access":false,"is_student":false,"first_payment_date":null,"last_payment_date":null,"num_free_questions_left":3,"terms_has_agreed_to_latest":false,"preferred_content_language":"","preferred_editor_language":"","is_staff":false,"auth_providers_human_readable_list":"","num_auth_providers":0,"auth_email":""}
. . .