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The Interview Loop, Stage by Stage1 / 3

2 min lesson

How to prep the muscle, not the trivia

Explain the order in "How to prep the muscle, not the trivia", then say how you would verify the result.

Step 1 of 3

How to prep the muscle, not the trivia

  1. 1Turn AI off now. Disable agent and chat in your daily editor for a week so unassisted coding stops feeling foreign.
  2. 2Drill TypeScript from memory. Write types, generics, array methods and DOM APIs without a model filling them in.
  3. 3Rehearse a DOM-flavored problem. Build a small interactive widget - a debounced search, a focus-trapped modal - with no libraries and no AI.
  4. 4Narrate as you go. Say the trade-off and the edge case out loud; interviewers grade the reasoning, not just the final diff.
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Full explanation

The kind of from-memory fluency they're checking

The kind of from-memory fluency they're checking - no AI helping you recall the APIts
function debounce<T extends (...args: any[]) => void>(
  fn: T,
  ms: number,
): (...args: Parameters<T>) => void {
  let t: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined;
  return (...args: Parameters<T>) => {
    clearTimeout(t);
    t = setTimeout(() => fn(...args), ms);
  };
}
Interview move

When you hit a fork, say it: “I can do this with a Map for O(1) lookups or sort first for less memory - given the input size I'll take the Map.” Calling the trade-off makes your judgment visible, which is the whole point of taking AI away.

AI muscle memory is the trap

If you've leaned on Cursor for months, you may have quietly lost the reflex to write a closure or a reducer cold. That gap shows instantly under a time box. Practicing unassisted now is the single most impactful thing you can do for this stage.

QWhy does Cursor ban AI beyond autocomplete in the technical screen and what does that imply for how you should prepare?