37 interview rejections nearly made me quit tech. So I turned the pain into an interview prep tool I wish existed earlier. This is the story—and the lessons.

Ilyas Seisov — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 17:26:49 +0000

After failing 37 interviews, I built the interview prep tool I wish I had

Ilyas Seisov ・ Dec 23

After failing 37 interviews, I built the interview prep tool I wish I had

Ilyas Seisov — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Hey, I’m Ilyas 👋
I’m a web developer, and this is a story about failing interviews for 18 months — and what finally changed.

If you’re a junior, mid-level, or self-taught dev who keeps getting rejected, this might help.

The 18-Month Loop

For a year and a half, my life looked like this:

Apply → wait → reject

Apply → interview → reject

Repeat

Stats:

1,000+ applications

~20–30 interviews

Mostly failures

It was exhausting. I was putting in serious effort, but results were close to zero.

What made it worse:

In 2021, I landed a remote US job in 3 weeks with almost no experience.

So why was I stuck now?

real screenshot from one my unsuccessful interviews from Turing.com

What I Was Failing At (Hint: Not Algorithms)

After dozens of interviews, I noticed a pattern.

I wasn’t failing hard problems.
I was failing basic questions:

“What are React portals?”

“Explain GET in HTTP”

I knew these things — but under pressure, my mind went blank.

That’s when I realized:

My problem wasn’t understanding. It was recall.

The Shift: From Studying More → Remembering Better

I didn’t need more tutorials.
I needed a way to remember basics instantly.

That’s how I found flashcards + active recall.

Instead of rereading docs, I tested myself:

small concepts

repeated often

until recall became automatic

This method has been around for over 100 years for a reason — it works.

My Interview Prep System

1️⃣ Ask Recruiters What to Study

Instead of guessing, I asked directly:

“What topics should I prepare for the technical interview?”

Many recruiters replied with clear lists:

React fundamentals
JavaScript basics
HTTP
Browser behavior

This saved me a lot of time.

2️⃣ Flashcards + AI (Carefully)

I used ChatGPT to generate 20–30 flashcards per topic.

Process:

question first
answer from memory
then reveal

One caveat: AI can be wrong sometimes.
To fix that, I grounded prompts with links to official docs.

That's why later I built this tool 99cards.dev to address this AI problem.

Short sessions. Every day. High focus.

What Changed in Interviews

After a few weeks:

I stopped panicking
Answers came naturally
I explained concepts clearly (not memorized)

In my final process:

Passed 4 rounds
Scored 95% on the technical test
Got an offer: $5,500/month + paid relocation

For the first time in a long while, effort matched outcome.

The Second Breakthrough: Where I Found Jobs

About 6 weeks before the offer, I changed how I searched.

I moved away from:

LinkedIn
Arc.dev
big job platforms

And focused on Telegram job groups.

Why Telegram?

1. Less competition
Smaller companies, fewer applicants.

2. Direct communication
Before applying, I’d DM recruiters:

I saw this role. Here’s my CV + LinkedIn. Am I a good fit?

If yes → apply.
If no → move on

This saved hours every week.

A Small Tool I Built Along the Way

While preparing, I ended up with thousands of flashcards.

I eventually turned them into a small tool: 99cards.dev — basically the same system I used, just organized by topic and some cool blows and whistles.

Nothing fancy. Just practical.

Lessons I Wish I Knew Earlier

Failing interviews ≠ being bad at coding
Passive learning doesn’t prepare you for interviews
Recall > cramming
Job search is a skill
Fewer, better applications beat mass applying

If You’re Still Struggling

You’re not broken.
You’re probably just preparing the wrong way.

I also put together a free interview checklist based on my experience. You can download it right now if you wish.

8 interview checklists:

HR
Technical
Behavioral
Live coding
System design
Algorithms
Take-home tasks
Cultural fit

I hope this saves you some time and stress.

You’re closer than you think.
— Ilyas

Reloading doesn't work when I add class in HTML

Ilyas Seisov — Sun, 05 Feb 2023 19:15:04 +0000

Good day!

I have utility classes (margins, paddings, font-sizes) in my CSS file.
When I add it into HTML file - it doesn't reload the project in browser, unless I manually re-save the CSS/SASS file.

Is there a solution for that?

Thank you!

p.s. I've tried 'usePolling: true'

DEV Community: Ilyas Seisov

37 interview rejections nearly made me quit tech. So I turned the pain into an interview prep tool I wish existed earlier. This is the story—and the lessons.

After failing 37 interviews, I built the interview prep tool I wish I had

Ilyas Seisov ・ Dec 23

After failing 37 interviews, I built the interview prep tool I wish I had

The 18-Month Loop

What I Was Failing At (Hint: Not Algorithms)

The Shift: From Studying More → Remembering Better

My Interview Prep System

1️⃣ Ask Recruiters What to Study

2️⃣ Flashcards + AI (Carefully)

What Changed in Interviews

The Second Breakthrough: Where I Found Jobs

Why Telegram?

A Small Tool I Built Along the Way

Lessons I Wish I Knew Earlier

If You’re Still Struggling

Reloading doesn't work when I add class in HTML