Free Software Engineering Mock Interviews are really headhunting firms in disguise
interviewing.io and pramp are nothing more than headhunting firms in disguise. If one performs poorly on 3 mock interviews then these free venues conveniently say they're "busy" or "beta mode, try back later" and refuse to schedule another. I don't blame them - their profit model is to funnel top performing candidates to hiring managers at startups and top companies - so why waste time giving repeated opportunities to failure candidates when they get paid fees for the Successful ones ? The founder of interviewing.io Aline Lerner is disingenuous in not admitting her real motive - PROFIT AND RICHES. For instance her passionate blog articles about increasing diversity and how people who attended the top 5 CS programs are unfairly privileged (they tend to kick ass at tech Interviews) are profound utter bullshit. She writes these articles feigning sympathy for the underdog but Aline is laughing hysterically all the way to the bank. Aline doesn't give a rat's fuck about diversity though her blog would make the less perceptive reader think otherwise. Full disclosure : about 8 months ago I was given 3 free mock interviews through interviewing.io and after that - "sorry we're in beta and can't schedule anymore". Why ? Because I failed to impress during my 3 freebies. That's fine. I get it. But be honest about what your real intentions are - which are not as Noble and altruistic as you claim. I have not had experience with pramp but I've heard they're similar to interviewing.io - if you don't do well they lock you out. Question on @Quora: Why does Pramp not allow me to interview? Whenever I try to schedule an interview, I get a mess… https://www.quora.com/unanswered/Why-does-Pramp-not-allow-me-to-interview-Whenever-I-try-to-schedule-an-interview-I-get-a-message-saying-%E2%80%9CWe-seem-to-have-run-out-of-questions-for-you%E2%80%9D-although-I-have-given-just-a-few-interviews-Is-this-being-done-to-keep-me-out?share=a5484d14&srid=hR3 I prefer gainlo because I do have to pay - BUT I can proudly be the failure that I am and as long as I am willing to pay, gainlo is willing to play. The irony ? People who naturally do well on pramp and interviewing.io don't need them.
interviewing.io
phuckMe phuckYou. If you don't appreciate the content then ignore.
You know you can always signup with a different email right?
Uh oh! Didn't know you can have 2 separate email accounts lol
No I didn't ! Common sense prevails !Thanks vRFI13. Good to know but before I try again I'm going to study harder. Now that I know that these are nothing more than tech phone screens in disguise (often resulting in onsite invitations according to Quora since Hiring Managers and Tech Leads are sometimes the interviewers) - I plan to show my best self before I sign up again. Make no mistake - Interviewing.io and pramp are not free in that you may actually damage your candidacy by trying and flopping - you are being judged as if it was the real deal and discarded promptly if you're not going to generate interest.
I think you should. You only need to mock interview when you are almost ready to interview. I think the mock is to practice you skills to DEMONSTRATE and EXPLAIN what you know. It is not a very effective way to learn coding or algorithms. I would recommend you start with leetcode, solve 100 problems first. Then see if you are ready to practice interview on the mock. I would not try to go to an phone interview without solving 100 coding questions. I would not go to onsite without 300 problems. I think a good way to measure is for easy questions you can solve within 20 minutes. For medium 40 minutes. If you can achieve that I would then start doing mocks.
VRF113 great advice. I tried mock interviewing well before I was prepared - so I made an ass off myself. By the way Elements of Programming Interviews, the book by Adnan Aziz, is nothing short of amazing. I wish I had read it BEFORE attempting even one leetcode problem. I dare say - don't bother with leetcode at all. Just work the problems in EPI.
It’s a business first and foremost. I personally loved interviewing.io, got me many onsites. Pramp was lame because you had blind interviewing the blind. This post btw sounds like a gainlo shill. Who wants to pay 200 for each mock??
Trust me it's not a gainlo shill. Look where I work - an undesirable company for a SWE. I'm trying to improve myself so that I can GTFO. Jooc if you got many onsites from interviewing.io then you are exactly the kind of candidate these platforms seek - they get finders fees from you ! Hey interviewing.io and pramp are businesses indeed - but stop with the bullshit already. Just admit that you are software engineer recruiting firms ! As for gainlo I was able to get a package deal of 4 mocks for $300 about a year ago. No doubt the price will have increased since that time.
I run a small company in Seattle that helps people with interview preparation . The model is not mocks but to actually work with you and make sure you succeed . Mocks and discussions are used as tools . I have a small network of people who are passionate about this . Ping me if you need more details .
Don’t waste money on these silly websites .. if you are desperate for a mock interview , go to LinkedIn and create a mock resume looking at some good profiles from FB and google , also add mock experience , mock college degrees and you will get loads of interview calls.. you won’t get job if you ace them, but you are not looking for a job anyway . You want to improve your interviewing skills. I would suggest recording all your interviews , and understand where you are failing to crack. if it’s coding skills then you need to leetcode data structure and algo problems, if it’s communication skills then work on those. Don’t ever waste money on these sites.
Lying?
I think you are misunderstanding the point of mock interviews. It's not for learning algorithms and coding, it's about practicing interviewing skills, which is the phase after you have mastered algorithmic coding. You don't have to pay to use interviewing.io yet you are unhappy about not getting more chances? If you failed three rounds, you're obviously not ready for real interviews and you should work on your technical competence before mock interviewing again. How is it fair if you keep hogging the slots and depriving new users of the chances? FYI it's the same as interviewing with real companies where you get banned if you fail their interviews too many times. You get what you pay for. That's how the world works. You pay to use Gainlo, of course they would be willing to let you interview regardless of your interview performance. I'd advise you to improve yourself technically before mock interviewing again.
fmwf - I am not whining. I am uncovering the truth. Please re-read my post. My issue is not that pramp and interviewing.io are blowing incompetent candidates off - these companies are simply headhunting firms that take finders fees - it would save a lot of heartache if they were honest about their intent from the start . Had I known this then I'd not have used them in the first place ! I blame myself for my own naviete - I only want others to know the truth, that's all. They're not immoral unethical or in any way bad but they are absolutely middlemen who step in and collect fees on successful candidates - my bet is that most of these successful candidates would have done just fine on their own without interviewing.io. interviewing.io in particular is masquerading (via Aline's data analytic blog posts) as wanting to help underdogs (diversity candidates, poor kids, etc.) Get into top tech companies when we all know that this is bullshit. Aline is simply milking the tech bubble- riding on the shirttails of whizkids who do well on these interviews, taking a slice of that pie for herself.
Thanks for posting this I actually hadn't heard of those before. I will look into them. 1) far as interviews go and since I'm not totally familiar with the platforms you mentioned. Is it an issue with the whiteboarding exercises? I usually prefer a review of the well known algorithm books and leetcode, hackerrank, etc to polish up on applying knowledge. 2) Finding a senior mentor who could do a more pointed critique of your performance (in-person) would probably be more beneficial than anything the internet offers. 3) I wouldn't get too irritated by the platforms you named. They are businesses with business models. So they have to make a buck somewhere in the process. Anyway they do it would have some trade offs. Worst case you could just sign up with different emails 😂 . <- out of the box algorithm solution 😂 4) Far as Ivy League schools I think the success has more to do with the backgrounds of the people who typically go to them more so than the school or innate ability of the person. What I mean is that if someone is from a semi well to do background they've probably have had the leisure time to program a lot more than the average joe. Not saying everyone from those schools falls in that category but a lot of the people I've met do. Heck if a school is only focusing on recruiting the richest, brightest, or most determined people I'd be surprised if their graduates didn't do Half way better then others. 5) not sure if this Aline persons statements would be contradictory. They are running a business. So at some point "keeping the lights on" takes precedence over goodwill initiatives.
Wtf is your point here? Your post is too long and spammy as shit
It's an ad for Gainlo by a sock puppet of Hang Zhao, who masquerades as Jake Cook, lol.
Don't understand how it's spammy. He's not promoting some other business, he's saying how these companies are disingenuous and have conflict of interest with their customers.