My first "real" CS-related interview, which had technical questions, I had on the very same day that I had taken my final exam in our data structures and algorithms class. And because our DSA class was quite rigorous, I knew the material in and out.
I absolutely aced those questions, but did poorly on the systems design questions because, well, I simply did not have much experience designing or building complete systems/software.
Years later, it was the other way. I stumbled my way through the DSA questions, while acing the systems questions.
But with that said, I think also the order of your performance matters. If you walk in, and absolutely bomb the first topics, I think there's going to be a bias against you. Maybe they'll think you're a moron, or something like that.
My first "real" CS-related interview, which had technical questions, I had on the very same day that I had taken my final exam in our data structures and algorithms class. And because our DSA class was quite rigorous, I knew the material in and out.
I absolutely aced those questions, but did poorly on the systems design questions because, well, I simply did not have much experience designing or building complete systems/software.
Years later, it was the other way. I stumbled my way through the DSA questions, while acing the systems questions.
But with that said, I think also the order of your performance matters. If you walk in, and absolutely bomb the first topics, I think there's going to be a bias against you. Maybe they'll think you're a moron, or something like that.