HomeGroundworkInterview book

27 rounds · 420 questions · about 4 h 22 min

From the first call to the offer

Not a list of questions. For each round: who sits across the table, what they are really testing, the answer and the code, the words to say, the answer that loses the room, and the follow-up they push with next.

613 follow-ups128 traps named6 parts

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0 / 27 rounds read

Mark questions to see them here.

Read it like a loop, not a list

  1. Read the round

    Before each interview, read the round you have next. Start with who is across the table.

  2. Practise, do not skim

    Switch a round to practice mode. Answers stay hidden until you have said yours.

  3. Mark it honestly

    Knew it, shaky or blank. The question bank brings the shaky ones back until they stick.

  4. Then get pushed

    Run the round as a mock interview, with a clock and the follow-ups, before the real one.

Every round you will meet

Each stop is one round: read it, mark yourself, move on. The ones you have read are ticked.

Interviewing at

Before the loop

How your profile reads from the other side, the recruiter call, and the three filters that end most loops before anyone talks to you.

5 rounds37 min

  1. 11 sections34 follow-ups7 min

  2. Screening callWhether you exist

    12 questions29 follow-ups13 min

  3. Online assessmentWhether a human ever opens your resume

    7 questions21 follow-ups6 min

  4. Take-home roundStartup and agency loops — often instead of machine coding

    8 questions24 follow-ups5 min

  5. Tech phone screenWhether four more hours of their team is worth booking

    7 questions17 follow-ups6 min

The technical rounds

Machine coding, the language, the framework, the backend, data, algorithms, design and shipping it.

10 rounds2 h 7 min

  1. Machine codingThe startup loop, almost entirely

    6 questions18 follow-ups8 min

  2. JavaScript & TSWhether six years is real

    21 questions55 follow-ups19 min

  3. TypeScriptWhether "TypeScript" means typed JS or types

    8 questions16 follow-ups5 min

  4. React & Next.jsYour strongest round — win it decisively

    15 questions41 follow-ups19 min

  5. Frontend beyond ReactWhether "frontend" means React or means the browser

    6 questions19 follow-ups9 min

  6. Node & NestJSWhether "full stack" is half true

    14 questions43 follow-ups16 min

  7. Databases & RedisWhether you can be trusted with data

    8 questions24 follow-ups9 min

  8. DSA roundMid-size product and SaaS loops

    9 questions30 follow-ups13 min

  9. System designWhether "architect" on your resume is true

    9 questions27 follow-ups16 min

  10. AWS, Docker, CI/CDWhether your deployment claims are real

    8 questions28 follow-ups13 min

The people rounds

Your resume under a microscope, behaviour, and Amazon's Leadership Principles loop.

3 rounds25 min

  1. Resume grillingWhether the rest of the resume is trustworthy

    4 questions12 follow-ups7 min

  2. BehaviouralYour level, and often your number

    6 questions13 follow-ups8 min

  3. Leadership PrinciplesMore of the outcome than your code does

    8 questions18 follow-ups10 min

The offer

The number, levels and equity at big companies, and working for a company abroad.

3 rounds27 min

  1. HR & the numberWhat is actually on your offer letter

    9 questions15 follow-ups13 min

  2. Levels & equityMore than negotiation does

    6 questions15 follow-ups7 min

  3. Remote & global rolesWhether you can be trusted unsupervised

    6 questions13 follow-ups7 min

The ₹50L track

What changes at the senior bar: hard DSA, distributed systems, runtime internals and staff-level stories.

5 rounds44 min

  1. 4 sections12 follow-ups4 min

  2. 8 questions19 follow-ups8 min

  3. 11 questions33 follow-ups15 min

  4. 8 questions27 follow-ups11 min

  5. 5 questions10 follow-ups6 min

The week before

A plan for the last seven days, and for the one night if that is all you have.

1 round2 min

  1. 2 sections2 min

Reading is not the same as saying it.

Once a round feels solid, run it as a timed mock interview. The follow-ups are where a prepared answer runs out.