I've always performed well as a software professional in a normal corporate environment, but I struggle badly when I'm asked to write code while an interviewer watches. The pressure makes it difficult to think and communicate clearly, even though I'm capable of doing the work. Does this improve with experience and deliberate practice, or is live coding simply a separate skill? I'm frustrated enough that I'm considering leaving the industry.
4 Answers
I used to get much more nervous than I do now. Repeated interviews helped, but the biggest improvement came from practicing the exact format and learning to talk while I worked. Eventually I could carry on a side conversation with the interviewer instead of treating every pause as a disaster. It doesn’t necessarily improve just because time passes, but focused practice can make a major difference surprisingly quickly.
It usually gets better with practice, but not just by solving more coding problems alone. Live interviews are partly a performance skill: explaining your assumptions, asking questions, thinking out loud, and staying composed while someone watches. Mock interviews with another engineer can help a lot, especially if you narrate every step until it feels natural. Your strong performance at work is evidence that you can do the job; this is just a separate hurdle that you can train for.
A lot depends on the interviewer and the company. A good interviewer is usually more interested in how you approach the problem, what questions you ask, and why you choose a solution than whether you instantly produce perfect code. Talking through your reasoning also gives them something useful to evaluate and can help you get unstuck. If someone is trying to intimidate you or cares only about flawless syntax under a timer, that may say more about their process than your ability.
Not every employer uses live coding, and some hiring teams prefer a take-home exercise or a discussion about projects you’ve actually built. Those formats can be more representative of the job, especially when candidates are allowed to use normal tools and then explain their decisions. It may be worth targeting companies with interview processes that resemble the work you want to do rather than assuming every technical role requires performing algorithms in real time.
Some teams allow normal development tools, including AI assistance, as long as you explain what you used and can defend the result. The exercise becomes a starting point for discussing practical problem solving rather than a test of memorized tricks.