How I’m Prepping for Interview Assessments — Smarter and Faster

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

🎯 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. 👇

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