Technical Interview Preparation Guide

This is your complete Technical Interview Preparation Guide for 2026. Whether you are targeting Google, Meta, Amazon, or any top-tier tech company, the path to success is the same: master the underlying patterns, not just individual problems.

The State of Tech Interviews in 2026

The era of memorizing a handful of "classic" problems is over. Modern technical interviews at FAANG-tier companies are designed to test your ability to recognize underlying patterns in novel scenarios. An interviewer will never ask you a problem you have seen before. They will ask a variation that requires you to adapt a known technique to a new context.

If your strategy is "grind LeetCode until I hit 500 problems," you are preparing for failure. Quantity without structure leads to shallow memorization that crumbles under interview pressure. You need a system that prioritizes depth over quantity and pattern recognition over problem count.

The Three Core Competencies

To pass the interview loop at a FAANG-tier company, you must demonstrate mastery in three distinct areas. Failing in any one of these will sink your candidacy.

1. Algorithmic Intuition

Can you map a vague problem statement to a specific data structure or algorithm? When you hear "find the top K elements," does your brain immediately think "Heap"? When you see "substring with condition," do you reach for the Sliding Window? This pattern-matching ability is the single most important skill in technical interviews.

2. Code Efficiency (Big O)

Do you understand Time and Space complexity intuitively, not just academically? Interviewers expect you to reason about tradeoffs: "This solution is O(N log N) due to sorting, but we could achieve O(N) with a hash map at the cost of O(N) space." You must be able to analyze your own code fluently.

3. Communication

Can you articulate your thought process, handle ambiguity, and "debug out loud"? The interview is a collaboration. You are expected to ask clarifying questions, walk through examples, and explain your reasoning before writing code. Silent coding is a red flag.

The 14 Patterns You Must Know

There are thousands of potential interview questions, but only about 14 core patterns that solve the vast majority of them. Master these, and you can tackle almost any problem thrown at you.

The 12-Week Interview Prep Roadmap

Here is a battle-tested schedule for someone with basic programming knowledge who wants to be interview-ready in 12 weeks. Adjust the pace based on your starting point.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

After coaching hundreds of candidates, these are the patterns of failure we see most often:

• Grinding without reviewing. Solving 500 problems means nothing if you forget 80% of them. Use spaced repetition to lock in your knowledge.
• Skipping the naive solution. Always start by describing the brute-force approach. It shows the interviewer you understand the problem and gives you a baseline to optimize from.
• Coding before thinking. Spend the first 5-10 minutes asking questions, working through examples, and agreeing on an approach. Jumping straight into code signals inexperience.
• Ignoring edge cases. Empty inputs, single elements, duplicates, negative numbers. Ask about them upfront; it demonstrates thoroughness.
• Neglecting behavioral prep. Technical skills get you to the final round. Behavioral questions determine whether you get the offer. Prepare your stories.

Start Your Preparation

The articles below dive deep into each of these topics. Start with pattern recognition if you are early in your journey, or jump to spaced repetition techniques if you are struggling with retention.