Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview with Mike Mroczka

Ever wondered how many “perfect” candidates simply learned the test—or how many great engineers get filtered out by bad interview design? Mike Mroczka, interview coach and ex-Googler, shares what really goes on behind technical hiring and how to navigate it to your advantage. *What you’ll learn:* - How leaked question banks and standardized puzzles can distort hiring signals - and where they still help - Practical ways companies can make interviews fairer and harder to game, both on-site and remote - A balanced take on data structures and algorithms: when they’re useful and when they’re noise - Tactics to spot and reduce cheating without turning interviews into surveillance - How to structure interviews for different seniority levels so you measure the right skills - Salary negotiation playbook: timing, leverage, and common pitfalls that cost candidates real money - Getting past the application black hole: skipping recruiters, networking that works, and coordinating offers *Who this helps:* - Engineers tired of grinding puzzles who want a smarter prep plan - Hiring managers looking to improve signal and reduce false negatives - Anyone preparing to negotiate an offer with confidence *Guest: Mike Mroczka, Primary author of Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview, Ex-Google* Mike Mroczka, a former senior SWE (Google, Salesforce, GE), is now a tech consultant with a decade of experience helping engineers land their dream jobs. He’s a top-rated mentor (interviewing.io, Karat, Pathrise, Skilledinc) and the author of viral technical content on system design and technical interview strategies featured on HackerNews, Business Insider, and Wired. - Mike Mroczka, website 👉 https://www.mikemroczka.com/ - Beyond Cracking the Coding Interview 👉 https://www.beyondctci.com/ #platformengineering #interviewtips #codinginterview *Links to interesting things from this episode:* - “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell 👉 https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/0984782850 - HackerOne 👉 https://www.hackerone.com/ - Interviewing.io 👉 http://interviewing.io/ - Cluely 👉 https://cluely.com/ - Google glass 👉 https://blog.google/products/android/android-xr-glasses-demo-io-2025/ - Rayban 👉 https://www.ray-ban.com/usa/ray-ban-meta-ai-glasses - HackerRank⁠ 👉 https://www.hackerrank.com/ - CodeSignal⁠ 👉 https://codesignal.com/ ⁠​ *Chapters* 0:00 Welcome and show setup 0:42 Meet Mike Mroczka: coach, ex‑Googler, author 1:47 From physical therapy to computer science 3:14 Why he left Google and wrote a sequel 4:43 The leaky question bank problem 6:27 Are we testing the wrong things in interviews? 8:53 How easy is cheating? Surprising experiment results 11:49 In‑person tactics and the tells interviewers miss 15:37 Remote interviews and anti‑cheat realities 21:25 Client‑side vs server‑side defenses and their limits 25:07 What’s actually “broken” about interviews 27:28 When data structures help—and when they don’t 31:20 Calibrating interviews by level, not one‑size‑fits‑all 35:03 Asking the same question vs. vibe checks 38:13 Live teardown of a practical hiring process 55:16 Pair programming at scale and AI in interviews 56:34 Beyond CTCI: what the book really covers 57:23 Salary negotiation timing, leverage, and pitfalls 1:03:26 Beating the black hole: networking that works 1:07:48 Where to find Mike and closing