What to practise for a technical round in two weeks

Ask for the brief

“Technical round” covers a lot. It might be a coding problem, a system design discussion, a review of something you built, or a conversation about your stack. Each one needs different practice.

Send the recruiter a short message with specific questions:

• What is the format: coding, design, a discussion, or a mix?
• How long is the round, and is it live or a take-home?
• Which language, editor or tools can I use?
• Who will I speak to, and what is their role?
• Is there a guide or sample question I can read?

Specific questions are easier to answer than “what should I expect?” If the recruiter says they cannot share more, you still learn something. Write down the answer as it was given, not as you hoped to hear it.

A candidate in one thread said they revised an entire full-stack job description and were then asked LeetCode-style questions (thread). That is one story, but it shows how far a job description can sit from the round itself.

Write down what you are guessing

After you ask, you will still have gaps. Write them down.

Make a short list in your notes:

• Known: things the recruiter confirmed.
• Assumed: things you inferred from the job description or the team.
• Unknown: things you have no information about.

Label each assumption with how much preparation depends on it. If you assume there will be a system design round and you will spend four days on it, that is a high-stakes guess. Check it first, by asking again or by looking for a hint in the job description.

Another candidate wrote that they spent a long stretch on system design and later regretted how that study was spent, then shared the order they would follow if they started again (thread). A written list of assumptions makes this kind of mismatch visible before the days are spent.

Run a 20-minute diagnostic

On day 1, test yourself before you plan. Twenty minutes is enough.

1. Pick the most likely format from your list.
2. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
3. Answer one realistic question aloud, as if the interviewer were there. Use a blank editor or a sheet of paper.
4. Stop when the timer ends, and write down where you got stuck, what you skipped and what you did not understand.
5. Rate your confidence in the format from 1 to 5.

The result is not a grade. It shows which skill to start with: recalling the technique, explaining your thinking, or working under time pressure.

One candidate with two weeks to prepare for a Google interview, after three years away from coding, asked how to start (thread). A diagnostic answers that question for your own situation before any plan is written.

Plan by format, time and confidence

Once you have the diagnostic and your list, allocate the days. Give more time to the format you are most likely to face and the one where your confidence is lowest.

Here’s a fictional example: a candidate has a backend role interview in 14 days. The recruiter confirms a 60-minute live round with an engineer and says nothing more. The job description mentions APIs and databases. The candidate assumes one coding problem and one design discussion, and rates confidence at 2 for coding and 3 for design.

Days	Focus	What to do	How to check it
1	Diagnostic	One 20-minute spoken question; confidence rating	Notes on where you got stuck
2–3	Brief and gaps	Send follow-up questions; refresh core data structures	Assumption list updated
4–7	Weakest format (coding)	Two problems a day, one spoken aloud	Can you explain each choice in one minute?
8–10	Second format (design)	One design prompt a day, sketch and talk through it	Record or write the explanation, then compare to the prompt
11–12	Mixed run	A 60-minute mock of the likely round	Time spent on each part
13	Review	Redo the two weakest problems	Better than day 4–7?
14	Light day	Reread notes, prepare questions for the interviewer	Rest and logistics confirmed

If the recruiter answers on day 3 and the round turns out to be different, change the table. The point of the assumption list is that you know what to change.

Keep the plan honest

Plans slip. At the end of each day, spend five minutes on three questions: what did I practise, what did I assume, and has anything I learned changed the plan?

A candidate in one thread asked how much time to budget by stage, and the replies disagreed on the split (thread). That is a reasonable thing to expect. Nobody can tell you the right split for your round, but you can keep track of what you assumed and adjust.

Two things to protect:

• Speaking aloud. Silent practice can feel finished when you can not yet explain it to another person.
• One rest day. The day before the round is better spent on logistics and sleep than on a new topic.

Start today by sending the recruiter your five questions and setting a timer for the diagnostic.