After relocating, I learned pretty quickly that technical interviews abroad are not just about algorithms, architecture, and experience. They are also a small theatrical performance in English, where you are simultaneously a candidate, translator, tech lead, part-time stand-up comedian, and a person trying to remember why they opened Zoom in the first place.
I walked out of several interviews with a very strange feeling. I knew the topic. I had worked with similar problems before. I could explain why a queue was needed here, why consistency mattered there, and why turning everything into microservices just because the word sounds serious was probably not the best idea.
But in the moment my brain sometimes said: "Good luck, I'm on vacation."
That is how I started building ExtraBrain, a macOS app that helps not after the call, but while the conversation is actually happening.
Who is writing: Andrii, software developer and indie hacker. I am building ExtraBrain, a desktop AI assistant for interviews, live coding, system design, and difficult technical calls.
