asked a stranger from this forum to trade mock interviews instead of paying $150 a session
Been grinding leetcode for two months and kept seeing mock interview services charging like $150 an hour, which just isn't happening on my budget right now. So I posted in the intros channel here asking if anyone wanted to trade sessions, 45 minutes each way, and got three replies within a day. First swap was rough, my partner froze on a graph question and I probably rambled through my own answer, but we both walked away with notes we'd never have caught alone. Cost me nothing but time and a little pride. If you're broke and prepping, just ask, people are way more willing than you'd think.
4 comments
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AnonymousAnon This is actually why I started lurking here more, way cheaper than any paid mock service and honestly the feedback ends up more direct too.
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AnonymousAnon One thing that saved my swaps: we each write down one specific strength and one specific gap in the last five minutes, silently, before we talk. Otherwise it turns into "yeah that was good" and nobody actually improves.
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AnonymousAnon How'd you gauge level before matching up? I tried this last month and got paired with someone already past medium DP problems while I was still shaky on two-pointer basics, felt pretty lopsided the whole session.
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AnonymousAnon Did basically this last month, found someone in the intros thread too. We traded four sessions, alternating LC mediums and one system design each, and the round where they grilled me on cache eviction stuck way more than any paid mock ever did.