Couldn't get "in the zone" during technical interview?

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CBeA65

New

CBeA65
Oct 9, 2021 7 Comments

New grad here, had my first technical interview a couple days ago, and I spent the whole time on the same medium problem. I found a brute force solution right away, but it took hints from the interviewer for me to get to the intended O(n) solution after the whole 45 minutes.

Previously, during their proctored online assessment, I had no problem solving 4 problems in 70 minutes.

Maybe I was just unlucky with this specific question, but programming with people watching just felt very different. I couldn't get into the focused mindset where you can think about a problem creatively. My mind just went blank for most of it.

Obviously I'm quite disappointed with this and I'd hate to have that happen again. Does this get better with more interviewing experience? Or should I just grind LC until the solutions are obvious?

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 TOP 7 Comments
  • Amazon
    GxSr50

    Go to company page Amazon

    GxSr50
    I find that if you have experience tutoring, you will find coding interviews natural. You should practice explaining your thoughts to others while still be able to think for a solution. It helps of you have seen the problem before, so you don't have to think that hard.
    Oct 9, 2021 0
  • Dell
    lilGiraffe

    Go to company page Dell

    lilGiraffe
    That's normal. Hard to get into the zone when you're stressed out. Do more leetcode until you can do them with a gun to your head.
    Oct 9, 2021 0
  • Amazon
    enderpearl

    Go to company page Amazon

    enderpearl
    Try a mock interview either with a mirror/camera in front of you, or get a friend to interview uou with sample technical interview questions. Doing that few times really helped for me
    Oct 9, 2021 2
  • Amazon
    kindsza

    Go to company page Amazon

    kindsza
    There is no such thing as zone for challenging work. You get in zone to hit nails to run marathon. If you get in zone too often on your job you are not growing. Learn to love struggle there is nothing wrong with feeling frustrated with problem, taking time, looking outside in the window. What you have experienced is quite normal given a problem was new.

    If you grind enough diverse problems, you will train a pretty good classifier that will get in the zone, but it will be a mechanical enterprise at that moment.
    Oct 9, 2021 0
  • Amazon
    JuicerπŸ§ƒ

    Go to company page Amazon

    JuicerπŸ§ƒ
    I just had the same thing happen to me πŸ˜•, the pressure is what got to me and I couldn't think properly.

    I think the solution is to mock more to get comfortable in an interview setting.
    Oct 9, 2021 0