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Interview preparation roadmap · Technology

Troubleshooting, operating systems and networks, SQL and logs, and calm, clear communication with customers.

TroubleshootingSystemsCommunication

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  1. 01Interview foundations
  2. 02Foundations
  3. 03Support core
  4. 04Practice
  5. 05Company & final prep
CoreCommonly assessedGood to knowRole-dependentAdvancedFor deeper interviewsOptionalNot needed by everyoneCompletedYour progressYou are hereNext up

  1. 01Interview foundations

    What every interviewer sees first.

    1. 01.1Resume

      CoreBeginner3–5 h

      A one-page resume you can defend line by line.

      What this covers

      • One-page format — Reverse-chronological, clean fonts, no photos or tables that confuse parsers.
      • Project bullets — Action + what you built + a number (users, speed, accuracy).
      • Skills section — Only skills you can answer questions on for two minutes.
      • ATS readability — Export a text-based PDF and check it with a parser.
      • Working links — GitHub, LinkedIn and a live project link that open.
      • Tailoring — Reorder bullets to match the job description.

      What to practise

      • Run your PDF through a parser test
      • Rewrite each bullet as action + result
      • Remove any skill you can't explain for 2 minutes

      Common questions

      • Walk me through your resume.
      • Which project here are you most proud of, and why?
      • Why is this skill on your resume?

      Free resources

      • OpenResume — Free ATS-friendly resume builder and parser test (Free)
      • Jake's Resume (Overleaf) — The LaTeX resume template most SDE freshers use (Free)
      • Resume Worded — Resume and LinkedIn scoring (Free plan)
      • Jobscan — Match your resume against a job description (Free plan)

      Free courses

    2. 01.2Tell me about yourself

      CoreBeginner1–2 h

      A 60–90 second answer: present, past, why this role.

      What this covers

      • Present — Who you are now: degree, year, focus.
      • Past — One or two proof points: a project, internship or result.
      • Future — Why this role and this company next.
      • Length — 60–90 seconds; stop before you list everything.
      • Delivery — Calm pace and eye contact, not a memorised script.

      What to practise

      • Write it, then say it out loud 5 times
      • Record yourself and cut anything over 90 seconds

      Common questions

      • Tell me about yourself.
      • Why should we hire you?
      • Where do you see yourself in a few years?

      Free resources

      Free courses

    3. 01.3Behavioral & STAR

      CoreBeginner3–4 h

      Stories about teamwork, conflict and failure, told with STAR.

      What this covers

      • STAR structure — Situation, task, action, result. Spend most of the time on action.
      • Story bank — 6–8 real stories you can reuse across questions.
      • Teamwork & conflict — Disagreeing respectfully and what you changed.
      • Failure & weakness — A real one, what you learned, what you do now.
      • Ownership — Times you took initiative without being asked.
      • Common HR questions — Why us, why you, strengths, relocation.

      What to practise

      • Write 6 stories in STAR form
      • Map each story to 2–3 common questions
      • Practise one story with a friend

      Common questions

      • Tell me about a time you failed.
      • Describe a conflict in a team and what you did.
      • What is your biggest weakness?

      Free resources

      Free courses

    4. 01.4Spoken communication

      CoreBeginner4–8 h

      Clear, structured answers in simple English, at a calm pace.

      What this covers

      • Structure first — Answer in one line, then give reasons or an example.
      • Simple English — Short sentences beat fancy words.
      • Pace and pauses — Slow down; a pause is better than a filler.
      • Listening — Answer the question that was asked, then stop.
      • Online calls — Camera at eye level, look at the lens, check your mic.

      What to practise

      • Record a 2-minute answer daily and note fillers
      • Read aloud for 10 minutes a day
      • Join one English conversation practice a week

      Common questions

      • Tell me something interesting you learned recently.
      • Explain your final-year project to someone from another field.

      Free resources

      Free courses

  2. 02Foundations

    What you will troubleshoot.

    1. 02.1Operating systems

      CoreIntermediate6–10 h

      Processes, threads, scheduling, memory and deadlocks.

      What this covers

      • Processes & threads — Differences and context switching.
      • CPU scheduling — FCFS, SJF, round robin, priority.
      • Synchronisation — Race conditions, mutexes, semaphores.
      • Deadlocks — The four conditions, prevention, avoidance.
      • Memory management — Paging, segmentation, virtual memory.
      • Page replacement — FIFO, LRU, optimal.

      What to practise

      • Draw the process state diagram from memory
      • Explain a deadlock with a real example

      Common questions

      • Process vs thread?
      • What are the four conditions for deadlock?
      • What is virtual memory?

      Free resources

      Free courses

    2. 02.2Computer networks

      Good to knowIntermediate4–6 h

      The OSI/TCP-IP layers and what happens when you open a URL.

      What this covers

      • OSI & TCP/IP models — What each layer does.
      • TCP vs UDP — Reliability, handshakes, use cases.
      • IP addressing — IPv4, subnets, private vs public.
      • DNS — How a name becomes an address.
      • HTTP & HTTPS — Methods, status codes, TLS basics.
      • Type a URL, press Enter — The full journey, start to finish.

      What to practise

      • Explain "type a URL and press Enter" in 2 minutes
      • Draw the TCP three-way handshake from memory

      Common questions

      • TCP vs UDP?
      • What happens when you type google.com?
      • What is DNS?

      Free resources

      Free courses

    3. 02.3Linux & the command line

      CoreBeginner4–8 h

      Everyday commands, permissions and processes.

      What this covers

      • Navigation & files — ls, cd, find, grep, less.
      • Permissions — chmod, chown, users and groups.
      • Processes — ps, top, kill, background jobs.
      • Networking tools — curl, ping, ss, dig.
      • Shell scripting — Variables, loops, pipes, exit codes.
      • Logs & services — journalctl, systemctl, tail -f.

      What to practise

      • Solve the first 15 levels of a command-line wargame
      • Write a script that backs up a folder daily

      Common questions

      • How do you find which process uses a port?
      • What does chmod 755 mean?

      Free resources

      Free courses

  3. 03Support core

    The main rounds.

    1. 03.1IT support & troubleshooting

      CoreBeginner6–10 h

      Fixing user problems with hardware, OS, network and accounts.

      What this covers

      • Troubleshooting method — Identify, test, fix, verify, document.
      • Operating systems — Windows and Linux basics, drivers, updates.
      • Networking basics — IP, DNS, Wi-Fi problems.
      • Accounts & access — Password resets, permissions, MFA.
      • Ticketing & SLAs — Prioritising and writing clear notes.
      • Customer handling — Calm, clear communication with users.

      What to practise

      • Write step-by-step fixes for five common problems
      • Practise explaining a fix to a non-technical person

      Common questions

      • A user cannot connect to Wi-Fi. What do you check?
      • How do you prioritise tickets?

      Free resources

      Free courses

    2. 03.2SQL for interviews

      Good to knowBeginner4–6 h

      Query questions that show up in many tech and data rounds.

      What this covers

      • SELECT basics — Filtering, sorting, LIMIT.
      • Joins — Inner, left and self joins.
      • Aggregation — GROUP BY, HAVING, COUNT DISTINCT.
      • Subqueries & CTEs — Breaking a hard query into steps.
      • Window functions — RANK, ROW_NUMBER, running totals.

      What to practise

      • 20 interview-style SQL questions
      • Rewrite one long query using a CTE

      Common questions

      • Find the second-highest salary.
      • INNER JOIN vs LEFT JOIN?

      Free resources

      • SQLZoo — SQL by doing, in the browser (Free)
      • DataLemur — SQL and analytics interview questions (Free plan)

      Free courses

    3. 03.3How the web works

      Good to knowIntermediate4–6 h

      HTTP, browsers and the request lifecycle that web interviews build on.

      What this covers

      • HTTP basics — Methods, status codes, headers.
      • Cookies, sessions & tokens — How login state is kept.
      • Caching — Browser cache, CDN and cache headers.
      • CORS — Why browsers block cross-origin calls and how servers allow them.
      • REST vs GraphQL — Trade-offs at a basic level.
      • From URL to page — DNS, TCP/TLS, request, render.

      What to practise

      • Inspect one site's network tab and explain each request
      • Explain "type a URL and press Enter" in 3 minutes

      Common questions

      • What happens when you type a URL?
      • What is CORS?
      • Difference between cookies and local storage?

      Free resources

      Free courses

  4. 04Practice

    Handling a real customer.

    1. 04.1Mock interviews

      CoreBeginner3–5 h

      At least two full practice interviews before the real one.

      What this covers

      • Realistic setting — Same format, time limit and dress as the real round.
      • Common questions first — Introduction, motivation, experience, weaknesses.
      • Feedback — Ask what was unclear or too long.
      • Recording — Watch yourself once; fix fillers and pace.
      • Role questions — Add 3–5 questions specific to your field.

      What to practise

      • Do two mock interviews with a friend or senior
      • Use a spoken practice tool and read the transcript

      Common questions

      • Tell me about yourself.
      • Why this role?

      Free resources

      Free courses

    2. 04.2Technical communication

      Good to knowBeginner2–3 h

      Explaining your thinking clearly in English.

      What this covers

      • Structure — Big picture first, then details.
      • Plain words — Explain without jargon.
      • Checking in — "Does that make sense so far?"
      • Written English — Clear emails and follow-ups.

      What to practise

      • Explain one project to a non-CS friend
      • Record a 2-minute explanation of your best project and listen back

      Common questions

      • Explain recursion to a 10-year-old.

      Free resources

      Free courses

  5. 05Company & final prep

    The last 48 hours.

    1. 05.1Company research

      CoreBeginner1–2 h

      The product, the role, the job description and recent news.

      What this covers

      • The business — What it sells and to whom.
      • The role — What the job description really asks for.
      • Recent news — Launches, results, announcements.
      • Interview format — The rounds, if the company shares them.
      • Your fit — Three reasons, matched to the job description.

      What to practise

      • Write 3 reasons you want this role
      • Match 3 JD lines to your experience

      Common questions

      • Why do you want to work here?
      • What do you know about our product?

      Free resources

    2. 05.2Questions to ask

      Good to knowBeginner30 min

      Two or three good questions for the end of the interview.

      What this covers

      • About the team — How work is planned and reviewed.
      • About growth — Mentoring, learning, the first 90 days.
      • About the product — What is hard right now.
      • What to avoid — Questions a quick search answers.

      What to practise

      • Write 5 questions, keep the best 3
      • Prepare one question about the team's own product

      Common questions

      • Do you have any questions for us?

      Free resources

    3. 05.3Final checklist

      CoreBeginner30 min

      Logistics, documents, setup and a calm night before.

      What this covers

      • Logistics — Time, timezone, link or address.
      • Documents — Resume copies, ID, certificates if asked.
      • Tech check — Camera, mic, internet, charger.
      • Night before — Sleep, light revision, no new topics.

      What to practise

      • Do a 5-minute tech check the day before
      • Lay out documents and clothes the night before

      Free resources

    4. 05.4Job & interview safety

      Good to knowBeginner15 min

      Spot fake offers, payment requests and fake interview links.

      What this covers

      • Payment requests — Real employers don't charge for jobs or training.
      • Email domains — Check it matches the company's own site.
      • OTPs & logins — Never share them with anyone.
      • Fake interview links — Care with unknown chat apps and downloads.
      • Reporting — The 1930 helpline and cybercrime.gov.in.

      What to practise

      • Check one recent offer against these rules
      • Confirm the opening is listed on the company's own careers page

      Free resources

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