Step 1: Practice without autocomplete

Autocomplete is great for your day job. In interviews it trips you up, because you start typing a function name, the popup suggests something close-but-wrong, and you accept it without thinking.

Turn it off for 30 minutes a day. Or use an online editor that doesn't have it.

Then solve short problems. The ones I keep coming back to:

• Reverse a string
• Find the first non-repeated character in a string
• Implement a debounce function
• Render a list in React with filtering and empty plus error states

About frameworks. Pick the one you actually use at work and stop hedging. For me that's React, because that's what outsourcing clients ask for. Build a modal in it. Build a search input with debounce in it. Build a dropdown that closes when you click outside. Those are the components clients actually care about.

(If your company is a Vue or Angular shop, swap React out and don't apologise. The interview asks about the framework you're paid to write.)

Step 2: Explain while you code

Don't type silently. In real interviews, silence feels like confusion, even when you're calmly thinking.

Here's a line I actually said in a round last year, while building a small list filter:

"Okay, I'm going to start with the dumb version. Filter the array on every keystroke, no debounce, no memo. Once it works, I'll see if it needs to be smarter."

The interviewer relaxed. Not because the code was clever, but because she knew where I was going and that I'd come back to optimise. That's what they're listening for.

Practice this on your own. Solve a problem out loud, alone, with nobody watching. It will feel ridiculous the first time. Do it anyway.

Step 3: Simulate interview conditions

Set a timer for 30 to 45 minutes. Pick one problem. Commit to it like it's the real thing.

Don't pause. Don't Google every detail. Don't switch tabs to check Twitter.

For UI tasks I open Frontend Mentor. That's it. I don't rotate between five platforms. One platform, used consistently, beats five platforms used once each. The Frontend Mentor easy tier mirrors live coding tasks closely enough that I've stopped looking elsewhere.

Step 4: Review and adjust

After each session, write one line in a notebook.

The one I've been writing for years is this: "What did I look up that I should already know?"

That's it. Not a list of feelings, not a self-assessment grid. One sentence. If the same thing shows up three weeks in a row, that's your next study topic. Mine was array methods for about six months. Now it's regex.

What I'd do this Sunday

If you want a concrete homework, here it is. This Sunday morning, 30 minutes, no autocomplete, build a search input with a debounced filter against a small list. Use the framework you're paid to write at work. Talk through it out loud, even though nobody's listening.

Send me what you got. I read every message that comes in, and I'll tell you the one thing I'd change.

Next lesson we'll go into system design rounds, which is the part most people skip and then regret in the room.