Mock Technical Interview

Practice like it's
the real thing.

Run a realistic technical interview end to end. Six stages, an interviewer that pushes back, and a report that scores your reasoning, not just your output.

Explore the stages

6

Stages

1

Combined report

3

Readiness bands

System Design

Stage 04 · Deep dive

Live transcript

Interviewer

You picked a queue in front of the ingest service. What happens when a consumer falls behind?

You

Lag grows but writes stay safe. I'd alert on consumer lag and scale the group before the retention window becomes the risk...

Interviewer

Transcribing…
/ THE STAGES

Six rooms. One interview.

Pick one stage to drill it, or stack several to run back-to-back like the real thing, with one combined report at the end.

01
Stage 01

Interview Q&A

Technical questions you answer by speaking, typing, and coding, with follow-ups that dig in like a real interviewer.

SpeakTypeCodeAdaptive follow-ups
"Answer out loud where you can, that's what gets scored in real rooms."
02
Stage 02

Live Coding

Fix and build code against real tests while you think aloud. Ask the interviewer questions as you go.

Real testsThink aloudAsk questions
"Think aloud while you work, the interviewer is listening."
03
Stage 03

Project Deep Dive

Talk through a project you've built, then defend your decisions under follow-up questions.

Your projectYour decisionsDeep follow-ups
"Pick the project you know inside out."
04
Stage 04

System Design

Design a system on a canvas while you narrate, then defend your tradeoffs in a deep dive.

Design canvasNarrate liveDefend tradeoffs
"Clarify before you draw."
05
Stage 05

Code Review

Read a teammate's pull request, comment line by line, and call the verdict. Scored on what you catch and how you say it.

Line commentsCall the verdictTone matters
"Read first, comment second."
06
Stage 06

AI Feature Build

Build a small feature with an AI assistant. Stay in control of the result, then get coached on your judgment.

AI assistantStay in controlJudgment scored
"The assistant helps, you decide."
/ INSIDE EACH STAGE

What happens in every room.

Each stage runs like its own interview room, with its own format, its own flow, and its own scoring. Here's exactly what you walk into.

Stage 01

Interview Q&A

The interviewer asks real technical questions drawn from your chosen focus plus the shared fundamentals every interviewer expects. You answer the way you would in the room: speaking out loud, typing when it fits, and dropping into a code editor when a question calls for it.

Nothing is scripted. Every answer you give shapes the next follow-up, so a shallow answer gets probed and a strong answer gets pushed further. It's the closest thing to sitting across from an interviewer who actually listens.

"Answer out loud where you can, that's what gets scored in real rooms."
01

How it runs

1

The interviewer asks a question from your focus area

2

You answer by voice, text, or code, whatever the question demands

3

Follow-ups dig into your answer like a real interviewer would

4

Difficulty adapts to how you're performing

What's scored

Technical accuracyDepth under probingCommunication
Stage 02

Live Coding

You get working-but-broken or incomplete code and a real test suite. Your job is to fix it or build it out while thinking aloud, because the interviewer is listening to your reasoning, not just watching the tests go green.

You can ask the interviewer clarifying questions at any point, exactly like a real pairing session. Silent coding that happens to pass scores lower than clear reasoning that shows how you got there.

"Think aloud while you work, the interviewer is listening."
02

How it runs

1

Read the ticket and the failing tests

2

Ask clarifying questions before you commit to an approach

3

Code against the real test suite while narrating your thinking

4

Defend your approach when the interviewer pushes back

What's scored

CorrectnessApproach & reasoningThinking aloud
Stage 03

Project Deep Dive

You bring a project you've actually built and walk the interviewer through it: what it does, how it's put together, and why you made the calls you made. Then the follow-ups start.

The interviewer probes your architecture, your tradeoffs, and the decisions you'd make differently today. Surface-level familiarity gets exposed fast, which is exactly why this stage exists.

"Pick the project you know inside out."
03

How it runs

1

Introduce your project and what problem it solves

2

Walk through the architecture and key decisions

3

Defend your choices under deep follow-up questions

4

Own what you'd change and why

What's scored

Ownership & depthHonest tradeoffsDecision defense
Stage 04

System Design

You get a design prompt with real constraints and a canvas to design on. You clarify requirements first, then draw the system while narrating every choice out loud.

Once the design is on the canvas, the deep dive begins: scaling, failure modes, bottlenecks, and the tradeoffs behind every box you drew. A diagram you can't defend is just a picture.

"Clarify before you draw."
04

How it runs

1

Clarify requirements and constraints before you draw

2

Design the system on the canvas while narrating

3

Walk through data flow, scaling, and failure modes

4

Defend your tradeoffs in the deep dive

What's scored

Requirements clarificationDesign soundnessTradeoff defense
Stage 05

Code Review

A teammate's pull request lands on your desk. You read the diff, leave line-by-line comments, and call the verdict: approve or request changes.

You're scored on what you catch, from real bugs to subtle risks, and on how you say it. A correct comment delivered badly costs you in real teams, and it costs you here too.

"Read first, comment second."
05

How it runs

1

Read the full diff before commenting

2

Leave line-by-line comments where it matters

3

Separate blocking issues from nitpicks

4

Call the verdict and justify it

What's scored

What you catchComment qualityTone & verdict
Stage 06

AI Feature Build

You build a small feature with an AI assistant at your side, the way modern teams actually work. The assistant helps, but you stay in control of what ships.

Afterwards you get coached on your judgment: what you accepted, what you rejected, what you verified before trusting it. Blindly shipping AI output is exactly what this stage is built to catch.

"The assistant helps, you decide."
06

How it runs

1

Read the feature spec and plan your approach

2

Direct the AI assistant with clear, scoped prompts

3

Review and verify everything before you keep it

4

Ship a result you can fully explain

What's scored

Judgment on AI outputVerification habitsFinal result quality
/ HOW IT WORKS

Build the interview you're about to face.

Step 01

Choose your path

Pick the role you're preparing for, from backend to frontend to data.

Step 02

Choose your focus

Your interview draws from this focus plus the shared fundamentals every interviewer expects.

Step 03

Build your interview

Pick one stage to drill it, or stack several to run back-to-back like the real thing, with one combined report at the end.

/ SCORING

Know exactly where you stand.

Every stage is scored on named dimensions with published anchors, then rolled into a readiness band recruiters understand. Cross-stage skills are tracked across everything you run.

Developing

Below 55

You know where you stand and exactly which stage is holding you back.

Service-ready

55+

Performing at the level service company interviews actually demand.

Product-ready

72+

Performance that places you at a product-ready level for an entry role.

Cross-stage skills

The habits interviewers actually remember, tracked across every stage you run.

CommunicationQuestion-askingIndependenceDepth under probing

A credential you can share

Finish a full sitting and earn a public Plaicer MockMonitor card with your overall score, percentile and sub-domain breakdown. Share it to LinkedIn in one click, or have an educator endorse it.

Speak like the real room

Answer out loud where it counts. Your speech is transcribed by your browser's built-in speech service; we store text transcripts, not audio.

/ YOUR COACH

Meet Paige.

Paige reads your whole interview history, spots your focus areas, and works on them with you between sittings. Ask her what to focus on next, where you're weakest, or how to lift your system design stage. She coaches you; the interviewer stays in the room.

Your first interview sets your baseline.

Free to start. The room is ready when you are.