My coworker's "mentorship" cost me a job offer in Denver

Last month I let a senior dev at my company 'guide' my interview prep for a mid-level role at a bigger firm. He had me memorize his exact answers for system design, even though I never built anything close to that scale. The interviewer asked one follow-up question and I froze, couldn't adapt at all. I got the rejection email two days later, and honestly, I'm more mad at myself for trusting his process over my own practical experience. Has anyone else had a mentor steer them wrong and how did you bounce back?

1 comments

1 Comment

noranguyen25d ago

Did your mentor know what the interview would actually cover? Memorizing specific answers is a common trap because it feels like preparation, but it skips the part that matters, which is thinking on your feet. Real interview practice is about taking a prompt you've never seen and talking through it out loud, even if you get it wrong. The good news is you learned this now, not later. Next time, ask someone to grill you with random questions from your own past projects. You already have the experience, you just need to trust it more than a script.