Interview Hammer

Inspiration

The idea for Interview Hammer was born out of a need to help individuals prepare for technical interviews in a more personalized and targeted manner. My husband, Costa, who is a career coach, often encountered clients who struggled with the technical interview stage after deciding on their career path. While there are countless resources available online offering example interview questions, Costa found that tailoring the questions to a specific job description and level of expertise was a challenge. This inspired us to create Interview Hammer, a tool designed to assist individuals in preparing for technical interviews by generating tailored questions based on job descriptions.

What it does

Users need to copy and paste job description, and they receive main technical areas to focus on, example questions (two difficulty levels), and a chat where they can ask for example answers or advice - all tailored to the specific job position.

What we learned

One of the most important lessons we learned during the development of Interview Hammer was the significance of prompts in generating relevant and targeted questions. We discovered that extracting key focus areas from job descriptions and using them as prompts significantly improved the quality of the generated questions. Additionally, we realized the importance of striking a balance between providing valuable information and not overwhelming the user with too much detail. Through experimentation and testing, we fine-tuned the prompts and parameters to ensure that Interview Hammer delivered a valuable and user-friendly experience.

How we built it

Building Interview Hammer was a collaborative effort that involved both Costa's expertise in career coaching and my background as a Data Scientist working with generative AI models. Despite the challenges of finding quiet time due to our children, we managed to make steady progress on the project. We started by creating several prototypes and iteratively refining the design based on user feedback and testing. Experimentation with different prompting techniques helped us optimize the question generation process. We also tested the app extensively using real job descriptions to ensure its effectiveness.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges we faced was ensuring that the generated questions were highly specific to the job description and not overly generic. Initially, the model outputted questions that were too broad and could easily be found online, defeating the purpose of the app. Adjusting the prompts and fine-tuning the parameters was a complex process that required careful consideration and experimentation. However, by continuously refining our approach and leveraging our combined expertise, we were able to overcome this challenge and create a tool that provided valuable and targeted interview preparation assistance.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud to make GenAI serve people and their real needs! We are also proud to be able to build it very quickly.

What's next for Interview Hammer

Our next step is to spread it within a community and add new career features. We aim to continue improving Interview Hammer and expanding its capabilities to address the evolving needs of job seekers and career changers.