How to figure out what to study for technical interviews
Technical interview prep often fails due to a lack of clear direction rather than a lack of effort. Without knowing what specific topics or skills a target company actually tests, job seekers waste time studying the wrong material while neglecting crucial areas.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1grinding LeetCode
- 2reading Designing Data-Intensive Applications
- 3Searching online for sample interview questions
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I tried looking up sample interview questions but didn’t get very far.”source ↗
“Did another round of interviews last year and the thing that killed me wasn't lack of effort. It was direction.”source ↗
“I'd spend a Saturday grinding graphs, then realize the company I was interviewing with barely asks graph questions and heavily weights system design, which I'd basically ignored.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to prep for an interview when you haven't interviewed in years
- 2How to study for professional exams when you don't know where to start
- 2Why do I blank out during job interviews?
- 3Why are there so many surprise questions on professional exams?
- 2Why am I getting ghosted after great career fair chats?
- 11How to choose certification study materials I can actually trust