How to improve your technical interview? Start livestreaming!
Tags: javascript, interview, preparation, beginners
Published: 2022-08-10 05:49:00

Recently I saw a video where [Midudev](https://midu.dev/), one of my favorite devs, gets interviewed:

{% embed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkXtqa8kjFY %}

It was a great learning experience for me. I've rarely seen other people interview, so it was very enlightening in a few areas.

The interview Miguel does is to join [arc.dev](https://arc.dev/). This is a company that connects companies to developers, something like [gun.io](https://gun.io/), [g2i](https://www.g2i.co/), and many others.

Justin is the interviewer. I couldn't find a lot of information regarding him, but at the end of the interview he gives out a few details:
- He has more than 10 years of experience, mostly in backend development.
- His favorite languages are Python and Go.
- Mostly USA based.

# Why livestreaming will improve your interviewing skills:

## You get used to the pressure

I always get very nervous at live coding, I really dislike it. It's not an uncommon feeling: there's someone observing you and scrutinizing your every move and thought. The pressure is there to not let the interviewer hanging and to "think fast".

Miguel, on the other hand, is very good at it. This comes probably from streaming on Twitch. [He is a successful streamer](https://www.twitch.tv/midudev), usually having around 1000+ viewers per stream. By streaming so much he is used to people watching him code live. That's why I think thatin the coding part of the interview he does so well.

He is still nervous, but the way he deals with the problem and explains all his actions is exactly what Justin (the interviewer) wants to see. To be fair, I believe the speed at which he solves the problem is because a very common interview problem: performing a two objects join with JS.

Still, it would have been hard for a lot of people; especially doing it live. I like how he uses `node/assert` as a very quick way to show he knows TDD and to prove his assumptions.

## You have to explain everything

When you are streaming or being interviewed, there should not be "dead air". You have to talk, to explain everything you are doing. That's a skill that streaming will give you that's useful for live interviews.

It's never good to have assumptions about what the other person knows. That's also a good thing Miguel does: explain absolutely everything he is thinking and doing. This way, Justin is not left there wondering and just staring. He gets a feel for how Miguel thinks, which ultimately is the number one skill in programming: problem solving - and all the thought process behind it.

## You'll have a live directory of your skills

If you have been streaming for a while, the VODs (stored files of past streams) will be available for everyone to see. Imagine a recruiter clicking on your name and being able to see hours and hours of you coding. There's no better social proof than that.

# How to start streaming?

You just need a webcam and a [Twitch account](https://www.twitch.tv/).

To record yourself, there's software like [OBS](https://obsproject.com/) or [Streamlabs](https://streamlabs.com/).