Interview Prep

Interviewing is a skill you can practice. SoDA’s interview decks separate preparation into two tracks: behavioral interviews, where companies learn how you think and communicate, and technical interviews, where they assess problem solving and coding fundamentals.

behavioral interviews

Behavioral interviews help companies understand:

Your value to the company
Whether you prepared
How you communicate
How you work with others
Whether your resume matches your story
How you react to conflict, ambiguity, pressure, or mistakes

Common themes include teamwork, adaptability, leadership, strengths, weaknesses, communication, core values, hobbies, and career goals.

research before the interview

Before an interview, learn:

What the company does
What products, customers, or industries it serves
Recent news, launches, or priorities
The exact role requirements
The company’s values
What the company likely wants from interns or new grads

Use that research to tailor your answers. A story about teamwork, for example, should highlight different details for a startup, a cloud infrastructure team, or a mission-driven nonprofit.

build a master intro

Prepare a flexible tell me about yourself answer. It should cover:

Who you are
What you are studying
What experiences shaped your interests
What kind of work you are looking for
Why this role or company connects to that path

Keep it concise. Think of it as a base template you can tailor, not a script to recite word-for-word.

use STAR stories

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result.

Situation: Give just enough background for the interviewer to understand the context.

Task: Explain the challenge, responsibility, or goal.

Action: Describe what you specifically did.

Result: Close with the outcome, ideally with a measurable result or lesson learned.

Prepare stories that can cover multiple prompts:

Teamwork
Leadership
Conflict
Innovation
Adaptability
Failure or dissatisfaction
Learning something quickly
Working with a difficult teammate

common behavioral questions

Tell me about yourself.
Why do you want to work here?
What are your career goals?
What is your biggest weakness?
What was your favorite CS class?
Tell me about a time you led a team.
Tell me about a time you handled conflict.
Tell me about a time you were dissatisfied with your work.
Explain a project from your resume.
What do you think our company does?

technical interview types

Technical interviews may appear as:

Self-serve coding assessments
Phone screens with Google Docs, CoderPad, HackerRank, or similar tools
Video interviews with live coding
In-person whiteboard interviews
Project, system design, or take-home interviews for some roles

technical interview strategy

Clarify the problem before coding.
Ask about edge cases such as empty input, invalid input, duplicates, negative numbers, zero, and size bounds.
Start with a brute-force solution if needed.
Explain the brute-force runtime and what you can optimize.
Talk while you work so the interviewer can understand your reasoning.
Test your code with simple examples and edge cases.
If stuck, say what you know and ask a focused question.

Interviewers usually want to see how you think. Silence makes it harder for them to help you.

how to practice

Practice early and consistently.
Solve problems without immediately searching for answers.
After solving, review the pattern and tradeoffs.
Practice in a plain editor, whiteboard, or shared document sometimes.
Use mock interviews with friends, clubs, Pramp, Interviewing.io, or similar tools.
Read Cracking the Coding Interview for fundamentals and common patterns.
Use LeetCode, HackerRank, CodingBat, NeetCode, Kaggle, or similar sites based on your target role.

final prep checklist

Can you explain every resume bullet?
Do you have at least five STAR stories ready?
Can you describe your strongest project in two minutes?
Have you researched the company and role?
Have you practiced coding out loud?
Do you have thoughtful questions for the interviewer?