Tech Interview Prep — Developer Technical Interview Preparation Tool
A specialized skill that enhances the mentor agent's interview preparation support capabilities.
Target Agent
- mentor — Project design, portfolio, career coaching
Three Pillars of Technical Interviews
1. Coding Interview
Key Topics and Frequency
| Topic |
Frequency |
Essential Patterns |
| Arrays/Strings |
Very high |
Two Pointers, Sliding Window |
| Hash Maps |
High |
Frequency counting, grouping |
| Trees/Graphs |
High |
DFS, BFS, shortest path |
| DP |
Medium |
Top-down, Bottom-up |
| Stacks/Queues |
Medium |
Monotone stack, BFS |
| Binary Search |
Medium |
Parametric Search |
Problem-Solving Framework (UMPIRE)
U - Understand: Fully understand the problem (ask about edge cases)
M - Match: Match to known patterns
P - Plan: Write pseudocode
I - Implement: Write the code
R - Review: Code review + time/space complexity analysis
E - Evaluate: Run test cases + discuss optimization
2. System Design Interview
Approach Framework (4 Steps)
[Step 1] Requirements Definition (5 min)
- Functional requirements (3-5 core features)
- Non-functional requirements (DAU, QPS, latency, availability)
- Scale estimation (Back-of-the-envelope estimation)
[Step 2] High-Level Design (10 min)
- Core component diagram
- API design (RESTful endpoints)
- Data model (schema design)
[Step 3] Detailed Design (15 min)
- Identify and resolve bottlenecks
- Scalability strategy (horizontal/vertical scaling)
- Caching, messaging, CDN, etc.
[Step 4] Trade-off Discussion (5 min)
- CAP theorem-based rationale
- Comparison with alternatives
- Monitoring/failure response
Key System Design Topics
| Topic |
Key Points |
Difficulty |
| URL Shortener |
Hash functions, collision handling, redirect |
Beginner |
| Rate Limiter |
Token Bucket, distributed counters |
Beginner |
| Chat System |
WebSocket, message queues, read receipts |
Intermediate |
| News Feed |
Fan-out, caching, ranking |
Intermediate |
| Search Engine |
Inverted index, distributed crawling |
Advanced |
| Video Streaming |
CDN, adaptive bitrate, transcoding |
Advanced |
3. Behavioral Interview
STAR Framework
S - Situation: Describe the background/context (briefly)
T - Task: Your role/assignment (specifically)
A - Action: Actions taken (why + how)
R - Result: Outcomes (quantitative + lessons learned)
Key Question Types and Preparation Points
| Question Type |
Example |
Answer Focus |
| Technical challenge |
"Tell me about a difficult bug you solved" |
Debugging process, systematic approach |
| Conflict resolution |
"Describe a disagreement with a teammate" |
Active listening, data-driven persuasion |
| Leadership |
"Tell me about leading a team" |
Goal setting, motivation |
| Failure experience |
"What did you learn from a failure?" |
Self-awareness, growth |
| Prioritization |
"How do you handle multiple tasks?" |
Time management, decision criteria |
Portfolio-to-Interview Connection Strategy
Project Presentation Framework
### Project: [Project Name]
**Tech stack**: [Technologies used]
**Duration**: [Duration]
**Team size**: [N people, your role]
**Why did you choose this technology?**
-> [Alternatives compared + selection rationale]
**What was the most difficult technical challenge?**
-> [Problem -> attempts -> solution -> outcome]
**What would you do differently if you did it again?**
-> [Self-reflection + evidence of growth]
**Quantitative outcomes:**
-> [Performance improvement %, user count, code quality metrics]
Interview Preparation Checklist
Coding Interview (2-4 weeks before)
System Design (1-2 weeks before)
Behavioral Interview (1 week before)
1---2name: tech-interview-prep3description: A specialized skill for systematically supporting developer technical interview preparation. Used by the mentor agent to prepare portfolio-based interview strategies, system design interviews, and behavioral interviews (STAR). Automatically applied in contexts such as 'technical interview', 'coding interview', 'system design', 'STAR interview', 'behavioral interview', 'developer interview prep'. However, conducting live mock interviews and providing company internal information are outside the scope of this skill.4---56# Tech Interview Prep — Developer Technical Interview Preparation Tool78A specialized skill that enhances the mentor agent's interview preparation support capabilities.910## Target Agent1112- **mentor** — Project design, portfolio, career coaching1314## Three Pillars of Technical Interviews1516### 1. Coding Interview1718#### Key Topics and Frequency1920| Topic | Frequency | Essential Patterns |21|-------|----------|-------------------|22| Arrays/Strings | Very high | Two Pointers, Sliding Window |23| Hash Maps | High | Frequency counting, grouping |24| Trees/Graphs | High | DFS, BFS, shortest path |25| DP | Medium | Top-down, Bottom-up |26| Stacks/Queues | Medium | Monotone stack, BFS |27| Binary Search | Medium | Parametric Search |2829#### Problem-Solving Framework (UMPIRE)3031```32U - Understand: Fully understand the problem (ask about edge cases)33M - Match: Match to known patterns34P - Plan: Write pseudocode35I - Implement: Write the code36R - Review: Code review + time/space complexity analysis37E - Evaluate: Run test cases + discuss optimization38```3940### 2. System Design Interview4142#### Approach Framework (4 Steps)4344```45[Step 1] Requirements Definition (5 min)46 - Functional requirements (3-5 core features)47 - Non-functional requirements (DAU, QPS, latency, availability)48 - Scale estimation (Back-of-the-envelope estimation)4950[Step 2] High-Level Design (10 min)51 - Core component diagram52 - API design (RESTful endpoints)53 - Data model (schema design)5455[Step 3] Detailed Design (15 min)56 - Identify and resolve bottlenecks57 - Scalability strategy (horizontal/vertical scaling)58 - Caching, messaging, CDN, etc.5960[Step 4] Trade-off Discussion (5 min)61 - CAP theorem-based rationale62 - Comparison with alternatives63 - Monitoring/failure response64```6566#### Key System Design Topics6768| Topic | Key Points | Difficulty |69|-------|-----------|-----------|70| URL Shortener | Hash functions, collision handling, redirect | Beginner |71| Rate Limiter | Token Bucket, distributed counters | Beginner |72| Chat System | WebSocket, message queues, read receipts | Intermediate |73| News Feed | Fan-out, caching, ranking | Intermediate |74| Search Engine | Inverted index, distributed crawling | Advanced |75| Video Streaming | CDN, adaptive bitrate, transcoding | Advanced |7677### 3. Behavioral Interview7879#### STAR Framework8081```82S - Situation: Describe the background/context (briefly)83T - Task: Your role/assignment (specifically)84A - Action: Actions taken (why + how)85R - Result: Outcomes (quantitative + lessons learned)86```8788#### Key Question Types and Preparation Points8990| Question Type | Example | Answer Focus |91|--------------|---------|-------------|92| Technical challenge | "Tell me about a difficult bug you solved" | Debugging process, systematic approach |93| Conflict resolution | "Describe a disagreement with a teammate" | Active listening, data-driven persuasion |94| Leadership | "Tell me about leading a team" | Goal setting, motivation |95| Failure experience | "What did you learn from a failure?" | Self-awareness, growth |96| Prioritization | "How do you handle multiple tasks?" | Time management, decision criteria |9798## Portfolio-to-Interview Connection Strategy99100### Project Presentation Framework101102```markdown103### Project: [Project Name]104105**Tech stack**: [Technologies used]106**Duration**: [Duration]107**Team size**: [N people, your role]108109**Why did you choose this technology?**110-> [Alternatives compared + selection rationale]111112**What was the most difficult technical challenge?**113-> [Problem -> attempts -> solution -> outcome]114115**What would you do differently if you did it again?**116-> [Self-reflection + evidence of growth]117118**Quantitative outcomes:**119-> [Performance improvement %, user count, code quality metrics]120```121122## Interview Preparation Checklist123124### Coding Interview (2-4 weeks before)125- [ ] Solve 2-3 problems for each of the 20 core patterns126- [ ] Practice under time constraints (45 min/problem)127- [ ] Practice explaining thought process out loud128129### System Design (1-2 weeks before)130- [ ] Practice designing 6-8 major systems131- [ ] Practice back-of-the-envelope calculations132- [ ] Prepare trade-off discussions133134### Behavioral Interview (1 week before)135- [ ] Prepare 5-7 STAR stories136- [ ] Prepare in-depth presentations on 3 projects137- [ ] Research each company's culture/values
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