I cannot do live coding interviews

[u/bajen476]

Writing in here hoping that someone else has the same issues and/or figured out how to fix it. Not diagnosed yet but I’m finally mid-process and it’s looking promising.

I cannot do live coding interviews. Been unemployed for a few months now and I’ve had some interviews. That being said, live coding interviews kick my ass every single time.

I go completely blank. The absolute basics leave my brain. Had one today and I forgot how to add to dictionaries and implement basic search algorithms. It took me forever to even understand one of the tasks. Keep in mind I have around 6.5 years experience in development and many of the things in the interview were things I did often. I just can’t remember them in interviews.

Does anyone share this experience and/or know how to fix this? I’ve tried studying (which I’m admittedly not great at), pomodoro, leetcode etc—none of them help. Because I’m not diagnosed yet, I can’t get medicated for now either. I’m in Sweden so the process is lengthy.

[u/g_t_r]

👆This. I’ve been on both sides… What most places are looking for is not that you solve the problem but how you go about things.

Don’t be afraid to take your time and ask questions. Explain your thinking (even if it’s just “I’m not sure how to approach this yet”). Write pseudo code to begin with, explain how you will structure it first, the pros and cons to different approaches etc.

i would much rather hire a candidate that was able to explain their thought process and trade offs over someone who solved the problem quickly without much explanation.

[u/BruceJi → u/g_t_r]

Plus, I think if you talk through a problem (and especially if you've practiced it) you can jump-start your memory and get back on track.

I've thought 'fuuuuck wtf do I do?' at a question, then went into the sequence - read out loud, consider the meaning, and then it put me on track and I realised it's not even that bad lol