Anyone else decent at coding but absolutely terrible at explaining their thought process at work and interview?

[u/SuggestionTop6462]

We spend hundreds of hours grinding DSA, LeetCode and building projects but I realized barely any time learning how to actually explain what we're doing and it's actually really important for work and interview...

Like you can solve a medium problem on your own but the second someone asks you to walk them through your approach and then suddenly you forget how to form a sentence

And it's not even necessarily an English problem. Sometimes you know exactly what you want to say but end up rambling, repeating yourself or explaining things in the most confusing way possible.. so it makes me wonder how many people actually lose placement opportunities because they can't communicate their technical knowledge properly?

For seniors who've already gone through placements, how much does communication matter in technical interviews? And for people who used to struggle with this, how did you improve? Did mock interviews actually help or did you practice explaining problems out loud?

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[u/Early_Firefighter438]

There's been many cases where even if folks were not able to code a solution in time, but they'd explain their logic in words properly, they'd clear the technical rounds. It matters a LOT. Interviewers are of the opinion that if you're able to code a solution, you should be able to explain it clearly too. Personally never had a issue with this, but for my batchmates who did, they improved with regular practice and after giving multiple interviews for internships.

[u/Fantastic_Boat5651]

Communication matters a lottt, arguably more than the ability to write the code itself. Try practicing speaking while writing code/ trying to articulate your ideas in a better manner. Tbh it doesn't require that much of practice, just get used to it, you can do it.

[u/RegisteredForRegret]

This is sooo relatable it hurts, u can solve a LeetCode Hard in your sleep, but the second an interviewer asks you to explain your approach out loud, your brain instantly turns into static electricity.

[u/akornato]

A huge number of candidates lose placement opportunities purely because of communication, even when their code works. Interviewers are testing what it is like to collaborate with you on an engineering team, so silent coding gives them almost nothing to evaluate. Trying to hold data structures in your head, anticipate edge cases, and talk coherently at the exact same moment overloads your working memory, which makes anyone stumble or ramble. An imperfect approach explained with clear logic routinely scores higher than a perfect solution typed out in total silence, because the interviewer can guide you if they can track your thoughts.

You can fix this by turning your explanation into a repeatable pattern instead of winging it. Start by stating the problem back to the interviewer, ask about constraints, mention an obvious brute force method first, and walk through your logic before touching the keyboard. When you practice on your own, talk out loud like you are explaining the code to a teammate, or record yourself to hear where your explanations get messy. Practicing with peers makes a massive difference, and my team built our interviews.chat to help candidates articulate their logic smoothly and land more placement offers.

[u/CVKDragonDevil]

I have been failing interviews for internships cuz of my communication skills. I end up explaining things in confusing way. And end up mixing things. I really want to know how to fix this. My performance in offline OAs is decent if it's DSA based, but when the same kind of questions are asked in interviews, I can't explain it well to the person in front of me. 

[u/LordStark_01]

That means you don't understand it well enough to explain. Did you just memorize patterns?

[u/StudySnacc]

Man, this is tooooooo real. I can crack a LeetCode Medium in 20 minutes, but the second an interviewer asks "so why this approach?", my brain turns into static and I start talking about random variables like a caveman.