the weirdest part of interview prep is that nobody practices talking about their own resume

i've done probably 30+ interviews in the last year and a half, and the thing that tripped me up the most wasn't leetcode or system design — it was fumbling through questions about projects i literally put on my own resume.

like, i'd spend hours grinding algorithms and reading up on the company, but then they'd ask "walk me through this API migration project" and i'd freeze or ramble for 90 seconds with no structure. it's so obvious in hindsight but those resume deep-dives are the most predictable part of any interview and i never once sat down and rehearsed answers for them.

what finally clicked for me was treating my resume like a script. i went through every bullet point and recorded myself explaining the context, my role, the outcome, what i'd do differently. felt awkward at first but by the third mock run i had clean 60-second stories for everything. one interviewer at a fintech startup even said "you clearly know your work well" and that was the first time someone said that to me.

the tool that helped me structure this was called nxtinterview — it pulls your resume and generates specific questions for each line, then lets you practice answering them out loud with a timer. i'm not affiliated with them at all, just found it useful because it forced me to actually rehearse the stuff i thought i knew cold but couldn't articulate under pressure.

if you've ever blanked on a question about your own experience, might be worth running through your resume like it's an exam you're cramming for. helped me way more than another round of leetcode mediums.