mock interviews with friends always turned into small talk. so i built something that wouldn't let that happen.

i was prepping for a senior backend role last year and convinced three different friends to do mock interviews with me. every single one turned into a 40-minute chat about their dog or my weekend plans.

not their fault — it's awkward grilling someone you know. they'd soften the feedback or skip the hard behavioral questions because it felt weird. i'd leave thinking i practiced, but i didn't actually get pushed.

so i ended up building nxtinterview for myself. the idea was simple: i needed something that would actually ask me the hard questions, let me answer out loud (because that's where i'd fumble), and give me honest feedback without the social weirdness. no skipping the "tell me about a time you failed" question because we both felt uncomfortable.

started with resume-based questions since those trip people up the most — stuff pulled directly from what you actually wrote. added mock interview mode where it doesn't let you off easy. then question banks for the standard stuff everyone dreads.

it's not magic, but it removed the thing that kept breaking my prep: the other person being too nice or too distracted. i use it before anything big now. recorded a few practice rounds before my last interview and realized i was saying "um" every third word — fixed that before the real thing.

full disclosure: i'm vamshi, i built this. still working on it. if you've had the same problem with mock interviews turning into therapy sessions, it might help. nxtinterview.com — it's free to try the basic stuff.

if you've had the same problem with mock interviews turning into therapy sessions, it might help. nxtinterview.com — it's free to try the basic stuff.