Python Interview Prep: Practise With Programs You Can Run, Not Just Read

Most Python interview prep fails in the same place. You read about Fibonacci, decorators and two-sum for a week. Then the interviewer opens a blank editor and says: write it. Reading and writing are different skills, and interviews test the second one.

So when I put together Python Interview Prep, I built it around writing: 140 complete programs in five rounds (warm-ups, logic classics, core Python, OOP, job-level problems) and 100 interview questions. Every program is printed with the real output it produces — each one was actually run, so what you see is what your screen will show.

Here are three programs from the book, exactly as they appear in it.

Program 24 — Print the Fibonacci Sequence With a Loop

What the interviewer is testing: Loop control and updating two variables in step. The simultaneous assignment a, b = b, a + b is the line they are listening for.

count = 10

a = 0
b = 1
print("Fibonacci sequence:")
for i in range(count):
    print(a, end=" ")
    a, b = b, a + b
print()

Output:

Fibonacci sequence:
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34

Program 26 — Check Whether a Number Is an Armstrong Number

What the interviewer is testing: Turning a number into digits, and raising each digit to the right power. The classic trap is using power 3 for every number — the power is the number of digits.

number = 153

digits = str(number)
power = len(digits)
total = 0
for ch in digits:
    total = total + int(ch) ** power

print("Number:", number)
if total == number:
    print(number, "is an Armstrong number.")
else:
    print(number, "is not an Armstrong number.")

Output:

Number: 153
153 is an Armstrong number.

Program 60 — FizzBuzz

What the interviewer is testing: Whether you check the combined case first. If you test % 3 before % 15, FizzBuzz never prints — that ordering mistake is the whole point of the question.

for number in range(1, 21):
    if number % 15 == 0:
        print("FizzBuzz")
    elif number % 3 == 0:
        print("Fizz")
    elif number % 5 == 0:
        print("Buzz")
    else:
        print(number)

Output:

1
2
Fizz
4
Buzz
Fizz
7
8
Fizz
Buzz
11
Fizz
13
14
FizzBuzz
16
17
Fizz
19
Buzz

Read 25 programs free

The first 25 programs plus 10 of the Part B questions are free to read online, no email needed: aheadkit.me/free-chapter/python-interview-prep

The full book (135 pages, $7.99, one payment) adds rounds 2–5 — comprehensions, decorators, generators, OOP, threads, async, and the algorithm problems that decide offers — plus all 100 questions and a 7-day practice plan for when the interview is already booked: Python Interview Prep on AheadKit

If you have never written Python at all, this book will be too much, too fast — it assumes variables, loops and functions. Start with a beginner book first, then come back and sharpen up.

Good luck in the interview. Practise by writing, and the blank editor stops being the scary part.