I recently graduated from a three-year Software Development program in Brazil, but I'm struggling with technical coding interviews. I can read and understand code fairly well, and when working on projects I usually know what needs to be done. The difficulty is writing a complete solution from a blank editor during a live interview.
During college, I often solved exercises by practicing similar problems beforehand. Without an example, documentation, or a familiar pattern to follow, I tend to freeze. This has been causing a lot of anxiety since many junior developer positions include live coding exercises.
Has anyone dealt with this problem? What helped you become more comfortable solving programming problems independently and writing code from scratch?
3 Answers
Practice without searching for the full solution. Give yourself a reasonable amount of time to make progress, and if you’re stuck, look up only the specific concept or operation you need—such as how to sort a list. Then close the reference and finish the problem yourself. Gradually increase the amount of time you work independently.
The main solution is deliberate practice. Build a list of common interview problems and solve them repeatedly, but don’t just type the answers into an editor. Occasionally write out the logic and code by hand or on paper so you become comfortable recalling the structure without autocomplete or references.
When the whole problem feels overwhelming, start with something you know for certain. Identify the inputs and expected output, write down the endpoint of the process, and work backward or break it into small functions. Sketching the steps on paper or in a plain document can help turn a blank editor into a sequence of manageable tasks.
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