As a developer juggling work and side projects, prepping for technical interviews can feel overwhelming. Instead of chasing perfection, I’ve built a workflow that combines brute force, learning patterns, and AI tools — and it’s helping me learn faster and stay sharp.
Here’s how I’m doing it.
🧠 Step 1: Categorize Topics
I broke down all assessment questions into 6 core categories:
- Algorithms & Data Structures
- SQL & LINQ
- C#/.NET Core concepts
- DevOps & CI/CD
- System Design (microservices, REST, queues)
- AI Tools as Coding Accelerators
This helps me track what to focus on weekly.
🔁 Step 2: Start with Brute Force (Then Optimize)
Instead of panicking over efficiency, I:
- Write a brute-force version first
- Ensure it works for small cases
- Then search or iterate into the optimized version
This makes patterns like sliding window, hashmap, and recursion much easier to understand.
⚙️ Step 3: Practice Common Patterns
Each day I choose a pattern like:
- 🔁 Sliding Window → Longest substring without repeat
- 🧠 HashMap → Two Sum, Group Anagrams
- 📦 Stack → Valid Parentheses
- 📈 Binary Search → Search in rotated array
And I solve 1–2 problems using brute first, then refactor.
🧪 Step 4: Weekly Mock Tests
Once a week, I do a 25-minute simulation:
- 1 algorithm problem (LeetCode or Coderbyte)
- 1 real-world backend question (design API or SQL query)
- Use Copilot + ChatGPT only for hints, not answers
This gives me realistic pressure and makes me confident before the real test.
🤖 Step 5: AI Tools that Help
Here’s how I use AI ethically:
- 🔹 GitHub Copilot to autocomplete loops, LINQ
- 🔹 ChatGPT to explain logic or debug
- 🔹 Ollama as a local GPT during offline prep
- 🔹 Build a Notion doc of best prompts for reuse
🗂️ Tools I Keep Open
- LeetCode Patterns
- C# Docs
- Visualgo.net
- My own GitHub repo with reusable snippets
🎯 Final Thoughts
By working smarter (not longer), I’ve found myself:
- Writing faster and cleaner code
- Explaining my solutions with more confidence
- Actually enjoying the interview prep process
If you’re prepping too — how do you learn best?
Let’s share strategies and improve together. 👇