{
 "schema": "aiblocks-page/1",
 "id": "technical-interview-practice",
 "type": "skill",
 "name": "Technical interview coach",
 "summary": "Run a mock technical interview on coding or system design. Get scored on four areas and told what to practice next. Good for interview practice.",
 "headline": "Technical interview coach",
 "subhead": "Share your interview topic, current level and time limit. It runs a warm-up, core questions and follow-ups before giving feedback. You get scores for your answers, clear gaps and a focused practice plan.",
 "job": {
  "id": "find-a-job",
  "name": "Prepare job applications"
 },
 "level": "beginner",
 "thinking": "medium",
 "tested": true,
 "updated": "2026-10-28",
 "first_published": "2026-10-25",
 "inputs": [
  {
   "type": "question",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Question",
   "what": "the problem, decision or piece of work you want help with, and what a good outcome looks like"
  }
 ],
 "outputs": [
  {
   "type": "feedback_notes",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Feedback notes",
   "what": "a person's notes on an output: what to keep, change or drop"
  },
  {
   "type": "plan",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Plan",
   "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step"
  }
 ],
 "you_give": [
  "Your interview topic and type, such as coding or system design.",
  "Your current level, time limit and areas you want to test."
 ],
 "you_get": [
  "A practice interview with questions and follow-ups.",
  "Scores from one to five for correctness, clarity, tradeoffs and edge cases.",
  "Specific gaps and the next topic to practice."
 ],
 "use_when": [],
 "skip_when": [
  "You do not know the basics of the topic yet: learn the topic first with a tutor, a course or a teaching prompt in your AI.",
  "You want a relaxed chat or a first look at the topic: ask your AI to explain it step by step instead.",
  "You want to practice coding and system design in one sitting: run two separate sessions, one for each."
 ],
 "output_sample": {
  "input": [
   "Your interview type: coding, system design, or behavioral plus technical",
   "Your target topic",
   "Your level and how confident you feel",
   "Your time setting: relaxed, timed or strict",
   "Areas you know are weak (optional)"
  ],
  "output": [
   {
    "name": "Setup",
    "contains": "The interview type, topic, time pressure, length, number of questions and whether hints are allowed."
   },
   {
    "name": "Warm-up question",
    "contains": "One easier question to build confidence and show how you explain your thinking."
   },
   {
    "name": "Core questions and follow-ups",
    "contains": "One or two questions at your target level, each with two or three probes on edge cases and tradeoffs."
   },
   {
    "name": "Debrief scores",
    "contains": "A score from one to five for Correctness, Communication, Tradeoff Awareness and Edge Case Coverage, with evidence from your answers."
   },
   {
    "name": "Gaps and corrective actions",
    "contains": "For each score below four, the specific gap and what to do about it."
   },
   {
    "name": "Next step",
    "contains": "Your top one or two weak spots and a follow-up skill to work on them."
   }
  ]
 },
 "how_to_use": [
  "Before you start, have your target job description or topic notes ready. You need only a standard chat AI. No paid tool is needed.",
  "Open Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini and paste in the skill text from this page.",
  "Tell your AI the interview type, topic, your level, your time setting and any weak areas.",
  "Answer as you would in a real interview. Explain your thinking out loud. Your AI will not correct you until the end.",
  "Say when you are done. Your AI then gives your four scores, your gaps and what to practice next.",
  "Practice the weak spot it names, then run a new interview on the same topic. To learn the weak topic first, use the technical topic deep dive. To drill recall, use the retrieval quiz writer."
 ],
 "checks": [],
 "next": [
  {
   "name": "Technical topic learning coach",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-topic-deep-dive",
   "why": "Technical topic learning coach"
  },
  {
   "name": "Retrieval quiz writer",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/retrieval-quiz-writer",
   "why": "Retrieval quiz writer"
  }
 ],
 "source": {
  "by": "edu-agent-skills contributors",
  "repo": "yugash007/edu-agent-skills",
  "url": "https://github.com/yugash007/edu-agent-skills/tree/e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee/skills/assessment/interview-mode",
  "licence": "MIT",
  "original_name": "interview-mode",
  "commit": "e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee"
 },
 "credits": [
  {
   "title": "interview-mode skill",
   "by": "edu-agent-skills contributors",
   "url": "https://github.com/yugash007/edu-agent-skills/tree/e75f44303570bb2eae37a8f7536c0358be2502ee/skills/assessment/interview-mode",
   "used": "Copied under the MIT licence. We gave it a plain name. We added Before you start and After this sections that link to other AI Blocks steps."
  }
 ],
 "files": [
  "examples.md",
  "LICENSE",
  "README.md"
 ],
 "links": {
  "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-interview-practice",
  "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-interview-practice.md",
  "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-interview-practice.json",
  "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-interview-practice/SKILL.md",
  "download": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/technical-interview-practice.zip",
  "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/technical-interview-practice",
  "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/skill/technical-interview-practice",
  "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp"
 }
}