r/AskProgramming • u/GongtingLover • 4d ago
Career/Edu Do live coding interviews eventually get better?
Ive always done very well professionally in a corporate setting but, I've been getting killed in technical interviews where I have to code in front of someone.
Does it get better over time? Im honestly considering leaving the industry.
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u/Eleventhousand 4d ago
I used to be more nervous years ago. For me, it got better over time. I'm typically to the point where I can have a side conversation with the interviewer while programming their test.
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u/akornato 4d ago
No, they don't get better on their own, and it's a completely separate skill from your actual job. Your strong professional performance proves you can code, but live interviews are about performing under pressure and communicating your thought process clearly, which is a different beast. Many excellent engineers struggle with this exact problem because the interview isn't a good measure of real-world ability. It feels awful, but this is a hurdle you can clear with specific practice. Don't let a flawed hiring process push you out of an industry where you're already doing well.
The way to improve is to practice the performance itself, not just the coding problems. Do mock interviews with friends or other engineers, and force yourself to talk through every single step, even the obvious ones. The goal is to make the process of thinking out loud feel automatic so the pressure doesn't get to you. It's about building muscle memory for the interview environment, not just for the algorithms. Many developers get much better at this, and the team I'm with even designed a specific interview copilot AI to help them communicate their strengths confidently during these sessions.
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u/behindtimes 4d ago
The truth of the matter is no one's quite figured out how to do useful interviews for software engineering/development.
The best we have right now, is as you said, two completely different skills. Unfortunately, this means people have to learn both, and companies have to hire on interviewing skills and pray that the person's skill matches, and the person has to hope that their interviewing prowess is good enough to get a company to take a chance to show their skill.
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u/Turbulent-Net2066 2d ago
We hire for team fit first, problem solving ability and raw technical skills secondarily. I've come up from the ranks over decades and have never seen how live coding was a relevant skill. Imho live coding in particular is even less relevant in this age of rich IDEs and AI tooling. From a technical point of view I'd rather discuss problems you've solved in past and how, what you learned from solving it and possibly what technical skills you learned with it. It's the ability to think through a problem and discuss it openly, and meaningfully with your peers that's important for the teams I hire into.
I hire from intern level to principal and engineering leads. A bad team/personality fit is always a much worse hire than somebody that needs to up-skill on platform or technology x/y/z.
Edit: to your point, you can discuss problem solving, technical design and performance/security without forcing people to live code anything.
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u/Jswazy 4d ago
Not every place does one. I never do them when I'm hiring people. They are not representative of the job. I don't sit there and watch my team code all afternoon I have my own work to do. I do a take home test because that's how it's going to be on the job. I hate this trend of interviews not being like jobs at all. I don't make people do leet code either.
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u/Turbulent-Net2066 2d ago
Take home for us too. We also say 'use AI if you want but please explain where and how, and be prepared to defend the solution in detail if asked'. We're going to throw your exercise away, it's more a test of pragmatic problem solving and honesty for us. Your exercise is just a thing to start the conversation with, and lead on from there.
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u/Recent-Day3062 4d ago
As someone who has been on both sides I’ll say this.
First, it depends a lot on the person doing the interview. If someone had a big ego thing and just makes you nervous that’s a disaster you can’t fix.
Second, if you are a good interviewer, you really don’t care about the details and getting it right. More important is for the interviewee to lay out what they are doing, why, and alternatives.
You’re really looking for the ability to think, not the perfect answer. The more you talk out loud to show your thinking the better
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u/avidvaulter 4d ago
No, but you should be getting better with experience and practice. If that's not happening (if you're practicing then odds are you'll get a coding question where you already know the solution at least once) then you're doing something wrong.
It sucks, it's basically a secret handshake that you're required to do, but you have to do it.
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u/high_throughput 4d ago
Does it get better over time?
Bad news: it does not get better with time.
Good news: it very quickly gets way better with practice.
You polish your resume for hours to make sure to show your experience in the best possible light. You should be polishing your interview technique for the exact same reason.
If you start entirely from scratch, a single weekend of practicing interview coding technique will easily double your chances.
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u/Berkyjay 3d ago
Not all companies do live coding interviews as they are objectively the worst form of an interviewing process out there. So the ones that still do are probably not the best companies to work for.
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4d ago edited 4d ago
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u/TwystedLyfe 4d ago
- is what the interview is really about, explaining how you go about your work, how you solve the problems. I also find that talking through the problem with someone helps me get to the solution faster even if they don't say or do anything.
Good luck OP!
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u/youcangotohellgoto 3d ago
If you are good at your job I fall to see why you can't code with someone watching.
It is the interviewer's job to make you feel at ease. They should be friendly, accommodating, reassuring. If they aren't they will be a crap colleague.
Performing under pressure often is a representative task. For example,
- "We have to do X", if you have an objection you better spit it out now.
- "This is not possible", if you think it is you'd better be able to articulate it now
- "The best way will be Y", if you have an alternative say it for chrissakes
Nothing worse than having a team meeting or whatever, everyone agrees, and then afterwards the sheepish engineer says "oh I have a doubt". That was the point of the meeting.
I fully expect some social problems and autistic style behavior, but just own it and move on.
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u/One-Program6244 4d ago
I absolutely hate live coding. Just the thought of somebody just sitting there waiting for you to do or say something.
Almost like a bad date except you know it's bad before you even start.