Understand the Interview Process

• Types of Interviews: Technical screen, coding test, behavioral interview, system design interview, and culture fit interview.
• Format: In-person, phone, video call, or online coding platforms.

Research the Company

• Company Background: Understand the company’s mission, values, products, and services.
• Tech Stack: Know the technologies and tools the company uses.
• Culture: Get insights into the company culture through Glassdoor reviews and LinkedIn.

Revise Core Concepts

• Data Structures: Arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs, hash tables.
• Algorithms: Sorting, searching, dynamic programming, recursion, greedy algorithms.
• System Design: Design principles, scalability, load balancing, caching, database design.
• Programming Languages: Be proficient in at least one language relevant to the job (e.g., Java, Python, JavaScript).

Practice Coding

• Online Platforms: LeetCode, HackerRank, CodeSignal, Codewars.
• Types of Problems: Practice problems related to arrays, strings, trees, graphs, dynamic programming, and bit manipulation.
• Mock Interviews: Use platforms like Pramp, Interviewing.io, or pair up with a friend for mock interviews.

Behavioral Questions

• Common Questions: "Tell me about yourself," "Describe a challenging project," "How do you handle conflicts?"
• STAR Method: Structure answers using Situation, Task, Action, Result.
• Company Fit: Demonstrate how your values and experience align with the company’s culture and goals.

System Design

• Concepts: High-level design, scalability, load balancing, database partitioning, caching, CAP theorem.
• Practice: Design systems like URL shorteners, social networks, messaging systems.
• Resources: Books like "Designing Data-Intensive Applications" by Martin Kleppmann, "System Design Interview" by Alex Xu.

Technical Questions

• Coding: Write clean, efficient code with proper comments.
• Problem Solving: Explain your thought process clearly.
• Optimization: Discuss possible optimizations and trade-offs.

Revise Fundamentals

• OOP Principles: Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction.
• Databases: SQL and NoSQL databases, query optimization.
• Networking: Basic networking concepts, RESTful APIs, HTTP/HTTPS.

Prepare Your Portfolio

• Resume: Highlight relevant experience, projects, and skills.
• GitHub: Showcase your projects and contributions.
• Portfolio Website: Create a website to display your projects, blog posts, and resume.

Ask Questions

• Role and Team: Understand the expectations, team structure, and growth opportunities.
• Work Environment: Ask about the company’s work culture, remote work policies, and work-life balance.
• Tech Stack: Inquire about the tools and technologies you’ll be working with.

Example Practice Questions

1. Coding:

• Reverse a linked list.
• Find the longest palindrome substring.
• Implement a LRU cache.
• Merge two sorted arrays.

2. System Design:

• Design a URL shortening service.
• Design a scalable chat application.
• Design an e-commerce platform.
• Design a file storage system like Dropbox.

3. Behavioral:

• Describe a time you had to learn a new technology quickly.
• Give an example of a challenging bug you fixed.
• How do you prioritize tasks when working on multiple projects?