I interviewed for 6 random jobs before the one I really wanted. Here’s what I did wrong.

TL;DR

Using live interviews as practice wastes time, and your ATS record can follow you for years.
Recruiter memory is persistent, and rejection histories can resurface.
Interview loops at Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and others are getting stricter, not easier.
Use mock interviews, curated prep, and targeted practice instead of sacrificing real-world opportunities.

Early in my software development career, I fell into a trap I now see playing out with many candidates. I told myself, “I will apply to a few companies I do not care much about. If I miss the mark on those, then it’s no big deal. I will treat them as warm-ups before I aim for the company I want.”

So I did. I lined up six interviews at random firms. As expected, I struggled, learned, and slowly improved. I thought it was working until I saw how much time and credibility I wasted.

The problem: It cost me months of wasted applications, strained relationships, and reputation damage I didn’t see at the time. Looking back, I wish someone had shaken me and said, “Do not use live interviews as your training ground.”

Today’s job market is leaner, hungrier, and less forgiving. Misaligned strategies cost time and reputation, so they’re no longer viable.

By the end of this post, you will understand why “interviewing for practice” is a losing strategy, especially in today’s market, and what to do instead to build real readiness.

Why I fell for the “practice with real companies” trap

When starting or trying to break into Big Tech, interviews feel like a maze without a map.

You do not know the cadence, the types of questions, or how you will perform under pressure. It is tempting to think the only way to learn is to throw yourself into the deep end.

That is exactly what I did at the time. My logic was anchored to three misconceptions.

Volume equals confidence: More interviews meant more chances to get comfortable.
Failure in low-stakes settings is safe: I thought smaller companies would have little influence on my career trajectory.
Improvement through exposure: Each attempt would be another rep, like practicing free throws.

It sounds reasonable. But here is why it backfires.

The hidden costs of using real interviews as mock practice

Time-to-offer: Most interview loops take 3–6 weeks end-to-end: online assessments, recruiter calls, technicals, and onsite. Stack six of those; you have already sacrificed half a year before reaching the “real” opportunity. In a fast-moving market, that is career-stalling.
Reputation damage is real: The industry is smaller than it looks. Recruiters move between companies. Engineering managers talk. It can stick with you if you show up unprepared and fumble basic rounds. I have seen candidates rejected at Company A, only to find the same hiring manager sitting on their loop at Company B six months later.

Most major ATS systems (like Workday, Greenhouse) keep complete records, and recruiters at Big Tech can see past applications.

Cognitive fatigue: Treating interviews as practice drains energy that should go into deliberate prep. You are already mentally worn down when you reach the job you care about.
Missed signals: Underperforming in interviews does not just give you “practice.” It feeds impostor syndrome. Instead of learning the right lessons, you might spiral: “I failed four in a row. Maybe I am not cut out for this.”

Note: Constant interview cycles drain confidence. You’re already exhausted when you reach the job you want.

A better way to practice

Here is the approach I now recommend to every candidate I coach.

Mock interviews > real interviews: Find peers, mentors, or platforms to simulate the loop. Treat them like the real thing: camera on, no syntax highlighting, time limits. This gives you all the pressure and none of the reputational risk. If you don’t have a friend at MAANG companies to grill you, tools like Pramp, Final Round AI, Exponent, and mockinterviews.dev gives you that same high-pressure experience, without wasting a real-world opportunity.
Pattern-based coding prep: Don’t just grind random LeetCode problems. Understand and recognize the recurring patterns (sliding window, BFS/DFS, DP, backtracking). At Meta, I saw candidates succeed when they could explain why they chose BFS over DFS, not just that they knew both.

When Amazon drops a new variant like “DNA sequence analysis,” you’ll still have the tools.

One developer I coached wrote about ditching LeetCode marathons, and their lesson corroborated what I’ve witnessed across hundreds of learners.

System Design reps: Practice walking through a framework for OOD or distributed systems interviews. At Microsoft, we looked for clarity in the V1 draft before scaling. Overengineering early was a red flag. That’s why I tell candidates: start small, then scale deliberately.

I break down what “Meta interviewers look for when I conduct system design interviews at Meta.” And if you want safe, high-pressure practice, “why mock interviews are your secret weapon before the object-oriented design interview” shows how to simulate the pressure without sacrificing meaningful opportunities.

Pro tip: Always start simple in design rounds. Over-engineering early is a red flag.

Behavioral story bank: Write 6–8 STAR stories tied to culture signals: conflict, ambiguity, results, ownership. At Amazon, leadership principles drive half the decisions. Candidates who skipped culture-fit stories often failed despite strong technical rounds.

The psychology trap

Another mistake I see often is candidates trying to build confidence by using smaller companies as throwaways. But confidence comes from preparation and reps in the right environment, not failed interviews.

I tell learners the same lesson when they bounce between 10 tutorials without finishing one: you don’t need 100 reps, you need the right ones. When you prep with intent, one strong mock round will teach you more than five real rejections.

And that’s the real danger: false confidence. Because when you walk into today’s interview loops at FAANG, you’re not facing practice reps, you’re facing some of the toughest formats in the industry.

What real loops look like today

Amazon

Online assessment: Now consists of five modules on coding, work simulation, debugging games, work-style survey, and feedback survey.
Proctoring: Monitors tab switching, copy-paste, and screenshots trigger warnings or termination.
Randomized inputs: Delivers randomized inputs, ensuring no two candidates receive identical questions.

The point is simple: you can’t afford to ‘practice’ on interviews that look like this. They’re too high-stakes, too complex, and too fast-paced.

After running those loops myself and seeing how little room there is for error, I realized the old advice about using random companies as warm-ups was outdated and dangerous. That’s what pushed me to build alternatives.

Why I built alternatives (plus the final pep talk)

Most people also don’t have the luxury of calling up a Meta engineer or Google alum to role-play an interview for them. Years ago, I kept hearing the same misguided advice make rounds. I worked with peers to create an alternative mockinterviews.dev.

We designed it with the following features in mind to make it feel like the real thing:

Coding rounds in a plain editor, no crutches.
System Design/OOD interviews that scale from building systems to sketching them out.
Behavioral drills mapped to MAANG+ company values.

We wanted to replicate the loops I used to run at Meta and Microsoft in a safe space where failure was not costly.

Skip cycling through six companies to warm up. Use mocks, pattern drills, and story banks. Save your sharpest self for the company you want. When your dream interview rolls around, don’t arrive exhausted from wasted reps. Arrive rested, practiced, and clear-headed.