Interview Kickstart

I joined the Level Up program at Interview Kickstart to prepare for tech interviews at FAANG and Tier-1 companies. Here's what I appreciated:

1. Well-structured curriculum covering DSA, System Design, and Full Stack topics.
2. Comprehensive DSA foundation with a strong set of practice problems that reinforce concepts effectively.
3. Responsive support team, consistently addressing queries within 24 hours.
   
   

Overall, the Interview Kickstart platform has been a valuable companion in my preparation journey. As an engineer, it’s helping me upskill with confidence and clarity.

I joined the Data Engineering cohort at Interview Kickstart as I was looking for structured curriculum to prepare for DE interviews. 

Pros - 
1. The program is well structured and detailed. 
2. Data Structures and algorithms section is really comprehensive, especially the foundation material, which helps to understand the concepts in each topic like trees, recursion etc.
3. I found mock interviews to be really helpful as they helped me to reduce my anxiety during actual interviews and the feedback given by each interviewer was very constructive
4. Support team is really great and they are always available in case of any need

Cons - 
1. Data Engineering section need more interview questions. 

Overall IK has been really helpful for me for interview preparations and to be better engineer. I would highly recommend it for Data Engineering interviews

I was committed to preparing for tech interviews as thoroughly as possible to land my next dream role. I explored a lot of different prep options before deciding on Interview Kickstart and couldn't be happier. In particular, I was looking for support with system design and behavioral interviews. I am blown away by how well-structured and thorough all of IK's content and support is. They have such a complete set of structured content that walks you through understanding everything you need to know and most importantly mastering the strategies for HOW to ace any question you're given. IK knows the interview process inside and out and is a master at breaking down the underlying strategies, so I loved how I didn't have to waste any time figuring things out on my own and could simply stay extremely focused in my preparation. In addition, the support their team offers is unparalleled. They're always checking in to make sure you have everything you need to succeed and have always gone up and beyond for any special request I've had. IK truly offers such a thorough solution so that you have everything you need in a single place to succeed. I continue to be so impressed by the level of thoughtfulness they've put into designing the curriculum and ensuring every student has the support they need.  Couldn't recommend them more.

I've moved to Silicon Valley and figured out that competition to FAANG companies is very high, so my interviewing skills need to be improved. It turned out that curriculum of Interview Kickstart, as well as format (I've chosen FastTrack to be flexible on time) has been a very good fit for my needs and give me a great feel of how I'll be interviewed in real life. Mock interviews are helping to bring theory to practice - and that is also a super valued part

I tried to get into FAANG but could not crack the system design interviews. Thus I joined the technical program management pathway at Interview Kickstart. The program was terrific. It covered the fundamentals as well as advanced topics in system design. I also got an opportunity to practice 1:1 with some industry professionals and get valuable feedback on what I could do better. The practice sessions not only helped me to improve but also built my confidence to clear the interviews. I highly recommend the program to anyone trying to get into tech companies.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Interview Kickstart program, and I must say that it has been an absolutely transformative experience! As an engineer looking to land my dream job at a top-tier tech company, I found the program's comprehensive approach to interview preparation truly invaluable.From the outset, Interview Kickstart's dedicated team of instructors and coaches provided exceptional support and mentorship. Their extensive knowledge and experience in the tech industry is evident in the program's meticulously crafted curriculum. The diverse range of topics covered, including data structures, algorithms, and systems design, was nothing short of impressive, ensuring that I was well-equipped to tackle any challenge that came my way.One standout feature that sets Interview Kickstart apart is the personalized attention provided to each participant. The regular mock interviews and feedback sessions were crucial in identifying my strengths and weaknesses, allowing me to hone my skills and improve on areas where I was lacking. Moreover, the invaluable advice on crafting a compelling resume and tips on effective communication helped me present my best self to prospective employers.The sense of community within the Interview Kickstart program is truly remarkable. I connected with like-minded peers who were also striving to reach their full potential, and we provided one another with encouragement and constructive feedback. The collaborative atmosphere fostered by the program not only amplified my learning experience but also enabled me to form lasting professional relationships.In conclusion, I wholeheartedly recommend Interview Kickstart to anyone looking to level up their tech interview skills and secure their dream job in the industry. The program's well-structured curriculum, passionate instructors, and unparalleled support make it a game-changer that can unlock your true potential. Enrolling in Interview Kickstart has been one of the best investments I've made in my career, and I have no doubt it will be the same for you.

The IK curriculum for interview preparation is well-designed and focuses on teaching problem-solving strategies rather than just providing solutions. The coaches are patient and helpful in answering questions. Mock interviews with instructors from FAANG companies provide valuable feedback for improvement. Overall, the program is highly recommended for anyone looking for structured interview preparation.

Was really needing some foundational knowledge and structured learning for interview prep and InterviewKickStart delivered. I don't have the computer science background (mainly self-taught) but after going through the learning material/videos/classes, I feel more confident in what I am doing. There's still so much to learn and the interviews are still really tough but InterviewKickStart sets you on the right path. The coursework isn't cheap but it's of good quality and value. Just keep in mind, it's a commitment and it takes a lot of work. The program is not for beginners (I have several years of programming experience) and it's really up to you to pass the interviews. There are no guarantees that you'll land that dream job but if you put the time in you will learn something about computer science and how to prepare for those tough interviews and hopefully up-level into a high-paying job. 

I joined interview kickstart in May of 2022, I gained way more in confidence and technical skill than the cost of the course

There arent many cons, but I do have to mention:
I do feel that the technical prep material could be better, I find myself using other sources in this area

However, I feel the course is 100% worth it to purchase for the following 3 areas
1. The support team for the program is exceptional, and has helped me with every special request and gone above and beyond for me many times,
2. The behavorial interview and salary negociations material has paid for the course 5X over
3. The 15 mock interviews I have found to be extremely worth it in my preparation

Thank you interview kickstart, I will continue to recommend your program to my friends and collegues looking to take their career to the next level

Pros:
Great domain specific programs 
This was very helpful for me when I cam across interviews
Algorithms & DS patterns classes are really helpful
Interview prep for Salary negotiations - getting to talk with actual technical recruiters are very helpful

Cons:
classes on Algorithm and DS - 4hours is too long and sometimes it extends beyond that.
These classes also require you to come prepared with study materials, This is really a lot for anyone who is working. This part is a challenge and I believe, anyone who take this course expects the coverage in the live sessions more useful than the study materials. Also all resources are available online anyways

I did an extensive research on multiple bootcamps for interviewing with FAANAG, and IK turned out to be the winner. Till today I have not changed this thought, I like IK because of the following:
1. Good curriculum
2. Good Instructors
3. Good Operations Team and Mentor Teams
4. Mock Interviews with people from FAANG 

Could do better:
The resources used by IK are little bit clumsy to me, like UpLevel (Very difficult to manage videos in Additional Library) and spread sheets are being used for scheduling some sessions. I wish they upgrade it to something better.

pros:

1. highly educated, trained , expert instructors
2. In depth curriculum covering all the necessary topics (avoiding things that we might not come across in an actual interview)
3. Tailored specifically at cracking interviews
4. Targeted for quickest time to solve a given problem 
5. The material is for us to refer back for any time later. 

cons:

1. Pricey
2. Sometimes classes seem too long and can be a drain

TL/DR
+ Exceptional DS and Algo prep material and live classes
+ Test review sessions and walkthroughs
+ Pace (not attended a class? the videos are all recorded from multiple instructors for you to review later)
+ System Design (one of the best)
+ Mock interviews (15 of them! I did not even end up using all)
+ Technical assistance
+ peer-peer discord channel

- pricey, but worth it
- long classes in the weekends, but I expected it and was prepared to spend the time

I had worked for a company for more than 20 years and was looking for a change. Since I had not interviewed for a long time, I needed a structured course for me to walk through and practice my interviewing skills. I reviewed several online coaching schools and in the end I decided to enroll in Interview Kickstart after I attended their (convincing and honest) introduction webinar.

I am glad I made the decision as it helped me find a job in a company that is shaping the future. 

The first few weeks were DS and Algo, with live classes. I was blown away by the quality of instruction videos by Omkar Deshpande. Coming from a non-CS background, I wish I had known about all the concepts even in my current job. I would have  been at least 10x better programmer, let alone facing technical interviews. This material alone I feel is worth the money. 

After working through the material and live classes (extremely helpful and interactive), I decided to take some mock interviews and apply at the same time. 

Thankful and grateful to IK. 

I really enjoyed the live classes. The supplemental learning material is outstanding. Every question you tackle builds on top of what you have already learned consequently you don't feel overwhelmed by the large amount of course material. The progression of the course is very organic. The entire curriculum is setup to help you improve your engineering and problem solving skills simultaneously. There are many IK instructors I admire but  Omkar Deshpande deserves special mention. He can break down complex problems and make them easily comprehensible. I was able to apply some of the things I learned in the system design classes to my current job. The instructors were people who have solved design challenges and scalability problems in the industry and could rationalize the trade offs they made to solve the design problems very skillfully. This course is a good investment and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to up-level their career or even simply improve their engineering skills. 

I have enrolled in backend engineering program about 3 months ago with Interview Kickstart and I must say, it has been the best educational investment I have made in my life. Shortly after starting the program, I was already feeling confident about acing the interviews. Before even completing the program (and even without taking any mock interviews they offer), I have interviewed with various companies including start ups and FAANG companies and have received multiple offers and accepted a position with a company that has been my long time goal to get into and for that I have to thank to superior instructors of the Interview Kickstart.

First of all, their lead instructor - Omkar Deshpande is a brilliant engineer and a teacher. He covers almost all of the foundational material regarding data structures / algorithms and most of the systems design section as well. He covers almost every detail related to the subject at hand with logical/mathematical proofs and various examples. His teaching style is engaging, thorough and very compressive. I am a visual learner mostly and the fact that every single topic at hand is explained by drawing has been such a good experience that, I asked the staff to tell me what device/app the instructor is using and I bought myself one and have been using it to take notes. I learned more from watching his lectures about computer science then I have throughout my entire career and that is no exaggeration.

After each subject, there is plenty of practice problems to be done as well as timed tests. After the practice questions/tests another lecture is held outlining and going over the practice questions/tests. You can ask any questions you have about the subject at any time to instructors and staff. The entire staff of interview kickstart is helpful, prompt and knowledgeable people, I haven't had an instance where I didn't have my questions answered. I was even offered help through out my offer negotiations which I'm deeply thankful for which resulted in a better offer.

As if the core content is not enough, there is an optional material for almost all of the topics covered that go even deeper within each subject. I don't think there is many algorithms that they do not cover to the point that you probably won't see them in an interview but If you mention or implement one of these, you will for sure amaze the interviewer. After going through the dynamic programming part of the curriculum, I had an interview which I solved the question using DP and the interviewer didn't anticipate such a solution and wasn't familiar with DP. Needless to say, this presents a great opportunity to display the breadth of knowledge you have and to teach the interviewer something they didn't know about. Also, I used to be a person that was terrified of dynamic programming, but turns out that was caused by the fact that I didn't understand anything about it, now it became one of my favorite tools to use to tackle some of the most daunting algorithm questions.

For those of you who want to learn computer science in detail and become an overall better engineer, this is the best education there is out there and I feel confident in saying that because I have used other online materials, taken other online classes and none of them even come close to what Interview kickstart has to offer. If you ask me, I find the price of the course to be very cheap considering the amount of quality material they offer.

I guess, the results should talk for themselves if you want to gauge the quality of a course and various offers that I got and the ease with which I went through the technical interviews prove that. To top that off, I was offered a position at an amazing company that surpasses what I used to make by more than 100%.

The catch is, this program is not for those who are looking for an easy fix, as I said all the topics at hand are covered in deep granularity and often complex. One needs to allocate a lot of time if you want to improve and become a better engineer. But the rewards are very well worth it.

Preparing for software interviews (tech) is no joke and Tier 1 companies are entirely a different LEAGUE. But if you have the RIGHT TECHNIQUE and MINDSET the probability of cracking TIER 1  interviews increases 1000 fold. This is where Interview kickstart helps exceptionally. I personally went through 1st part of my training and i can already see the shift in my coding skills. I used to be scared of TREES , GRAPHS and DYNAMIC PROGRAMMING problems. But now i am ENJOYING solving these problems.I am not downplaying the HARDWORK and FOCUS that goes in initially.Its a lot of work but knowing that you will eventual get to a place where you can ENJOY solving technical problems makes it all worthwhile. 

Best parts i adore about IK (PROS) :
1)Outstanding learning material (truly world class curated over years).
2)1-on-1 coaching upon request(Once you see an expert solve a problem - things just seem to flow and make sense)
3)Practice tests and class problems (Completing these tessts with 100% clarity will help you clear low level rounds easily ).
4) MOCK INTERVIEWS (extremely useful in finding the blind spots in thinking and approach)
5)Support Period (+ access to the material for life)

CONS:
It seems a bit pricey at first.
[But if you seek the value in the program cost won't be an issue.Specially if you see this as investment.]

At this point i have not yet attended interviews but i can say this with certainity that I am a much better Engineer now after joining IK. My honest recommendation go for IK - if you want to become a BETTER ENGINEER not just crack a FAANG-M interview and INVEST in your CAREER and your future.

Interview Kickstart helped me to get a job at a reputable company and feel confident during this transition.

How did IK help me?

After spending 7 years at a big company I tried to make a move. Turned out I was rusty on coding, system design and behavioral interviews.

It was hard to pick up all these skills from scratch and a friend of mine recommended IK. 
I joined in January 2021. IK gave me a good basis for solving coding problems, system design problems, helped me to polish my resume and LI profile, shared strategy on how to chose company I want and how to pass interview.  15 mock interviews were super helpful. I am thankful to every coach and instructor.

I am perfectionist, so after graduation I , unlike many others, didn't get a job, but continue self education and interviewing. 

I found people on Discord channel for IK alumni, we created a study group and continue studying, practicing and supporting each other.

I had ~ 30+ onsite interviews and got 15+ offers. Some FAANG offers too. Found my dream job.

Used help from IK for negotiations as well.

My salary was more than doubled. 

I am happy at a new place. 

Thank you IK!
My success would not be possible without Your support.

As someone looking to transition my SWE career into FAANG+, I looked for a structured program to help me attain my goals. With 2 months of arduous preparation and help through the interview kickstart program, I have now joined a FAANG company. From a strong technical program to mock interviews and career coaching, IK provided a holistic preparation approach. On top of this, my student success advocate Gayatri was also very helpful in helping me navigate the program. I recommend interview kickstart for anyone looking to make a transition to product based companies.

Starts really well with the DSA foundation, and Omkars passion and natural ability makes all the DSA problems related videos a must watch. System Design is also structured well, although more scenarios could be covered in depth. Career Coaching really helped me nail my behavioral answers down. I personally felt I could have used the mock interviews better. They could enforce you to use part of you mock interviews by a certain date so that you have a better understanding of the importance of mocks (currently you are free to use the mock interviews as you want, and a lot of us tend to procrastinate)

I'm one of those people who was initially apprehensive to join IK but then decided to give it a shot and joined early this year.    To give you a context, I have a degree in Electrical  Engineering and had never solved a single Leetcode problem before I joined IK. It had always felt extremely overwhelming to solve DSA problems even though I've been writing firmware in C for over a decade. But, constant practice was what helped me. In 4 months, I solved 425 LC problems, thanks to Omkar's amazing explanations in all his foundation videos, live classes and floater series. He covers each topic in depth in his videos and this is very helpful for people like me who come from a background that is not Computer Science.   I chose the Embedded Systems master class since that was my domain and I came across an absolutely amazing study group there. That group of driven and passionate individuals from various IK cohorts kept me accountable on my prep and helped one another as needed and I would definitely say that group was my blessing. The mock interviews helped me a lot in identifying the areas I need to focus more on. The detailed feedback from mock interviewers and suggestions on resources were very helpful.   I started interviewing in mid April and started with tier 2 companies. I interviewed with 4 of them - 2 startups and 2 established companies : Skytran, Inari Medical, Masimo and Marvell Semiconductors. I got offers from all the 4. With this warm up, I started applying to my target FAANG companies. I also applied to a couple AV companies - Cruise and Rivian. As of today, I have offers from Google, Apple, Amazon, Cruise and Rivian. So, I was able to crack all the interviews I had given and got offers from all 9 companies I interviewed with (I got 2 offers from Apple since I interviewed with 2 different teams.) I also cleared the phone screen for Meta and then the hiring freeze happened. In total, I had given almost 75-80 rounds of interviews with all these companies combined and I cracked all of them.   None of this would have been possible without IK. I was someone who tried clearing Amazon's phone screen twice in the past few years and failed both the times. However, this time, I cracked 3 big FAANG companies with ease. I will definitely attribute this 100% success rate to IK. This program is no magic. They don't give you cheat sheets or shortcuts to crack interviews. They show you the path and provide you with the resources. If you can make the maximum use of those resources and put in your sincere efforts, then you are sure to achieve your goals. 

This is one of the Most Comprehensive Interview Preparation Course. 
All instructors are highly experienced and have passion for teaching. Omkar Deshpande especially stood out for me, his passion for teaching DSA is infectious.  
We would still need to put in lot of hard work on our own but IK provided the structure for the prep and well curated material with logical sequencing. Community build around IK (especially on discord) helps you keep going during the support period. 

Omkar Deshpande is the sole reason I was able to articulate complex problems after this training, he is the chief instructor of almost all the courses. A series of formulas or methodology has been derived for every complex set of DSA questions especially Exponential Problems, Trees, and Graphs. System Design material alone is around 20 hrs and has helped me to date. Cost-wise it's quite a pricey option but the upside is, that these concepts won't change for life and I considered as a good investment for future engineering interviews to come as we get lifetime access.

If you are a experience engineer, with experience working on data structures and you are finding it challenging to clear technical interviews, this course is perfect for you. The course material is well organized and high quality, the kind you would see is a DS course in top graduate schools, the Instructors are just the best people on this earth who are passionate and genuinely interested to see you crack interviews. Instructors are experts in the field yet so down to earth and humble.

The best apart about IK is that they aren't necessarily teaching you how to crack interviews through short cuts. The entire curriculum is setup in a way to improve your engineering skills as well as problem solving skills. It's more like teaching you how to think through algorithm based problems than just solving Leetcode questions together. You'll still need to grind to land your dream job/position, but IK's support through their curriculum, instructors and coaching is absolutely worth the money you'll pay. 

IK was a real eye opener or me in understanding how to approach the technical interviews in Tier I product companies. The key differentiator for IK and what I liked is that they cover all aspects from interview process right from resume preparation / review >  how to search for jobs > LinkedIn profile > technical (Data Structures & algo) > system design > soft skills > technical assistance sessions > mock interviews > offer negotiation et all. 

From my personal experience of attending this course and as a person who had got good offer from Tier-I tech companies, this course is a definite YES to anyone who is serious about their job hunt and uplevel their career.

Thanks IK and good luck to all current & future learners.

As an alumni of Interview Kickstart, here is my complete review. I have gone through it and got offers from couple of FAANG companies.

You should take this course only if you satisfy all of the below points:
1. If you have enough time to spend (10-15 hours per week is bare minimum). Hard work pays off in long run. You might be smarter, but you need to spend enough amount of time to see the day light. Some made it in couple of months but for me it took almost a year.
2. Don't believe that by just attending classes during the course, you will magically crack interviews
3. If you can motivate yourself time and time again when things (life, current job, interviews at some companies) won't work your way
4. Believe in doing the things the right way, there are many shortcuts out there to memorize and reproduce in interviews. (sometimes they may work and sometimes they don't)
5. (For software engineers) If you know how to code in at least one language. 

Why you should take this course:
1.  Probably it is well tested and the focus is more on the concepts / templates rather than approaching one problem at a time.
2. You will meet peers who have similar aspirations. You can make groups and help yourselves.
3. Instructors are always there to help if you have questions or if you want to present your way of solving problem.
4. Probably the best investment of time and money in the long run for wanna be techies/geeks.

I was looking to jump companies and bump up my salary in that process, but realized I needed more practice with data structures and algorithms. The curriculum at IK is pretty comprehensive and does require a good amount of time/dedication to complete. Due to COVID, the classes were held online and each week the class required you to complete the pre-req material for that topic. That was fine, but the online class would go for 6-8 hrs at a stretch on Saturday morning/afternoons depending on your timezone. I was not a fan of sitting for that many hrs in one go. Would prefer if the schedule was broken down multiple sessions/days in a week. 
Out of all the instructors, I found Omkar the most easy to follow and enjoyed his systematic teaching method. 

Overall, I would recommend IK for people who are serious about moving to a FAANG company as a software engineer as the curriculum covered here goes into all topics (arrays, trees, maps, graphs, sorting, recursion, etc) in good depth.

The course provides everything one needs to understand to be able to crack the interviews for FAANG companies. They do their best to make the vast portion as concise as possible and the root of this course is not to find a loop hole in the hirings process but to just make you a better engineer who can solve coding questions in limited time and give the acceptable answers for behavioral interviews. The materials and live sessions are amazing and can be overwhelming at times but if you manage to stick with it for even 50% of the time, you would have improved a whole lot. If you don't have the drive to practice coding everyday then this bootcamp is for you as you will pay a whole lot and have a schedule to adhere to from day one when you join this bootcamp.

I would recommend this course to anyone who would like to prepare for the software engineer interview for FAANG and many other companies in SF Bay Area.
Interview Kickstart has a great curated curriculum that is up to date with the interview process with many companies.
But the best part of the course is not even the content rather then support and access to the coaches you get. You could get guidance for the problems you stuck and advice on many system design topics.
Unfortunately not all the coaches are great but over time you'll learn the schedule and know when to book the session to get the most of it.
For me one of the most helpful parts were the behavior and the offer negotiation sessions. Behavior knowledge and practice was so useful for me so I sometimes passing even coding exercises leveraging soft skills even though not completing technical solution or not providing the optimal one.
Offer negotiation knowledge gained is hard to underestimate as it allows me to create the lever to get the most from my effort.

I hope that Interview Kickstart will improve the operational part. It is quite frustrating you showed up to the mock interview or live class and it is rescheduled after 5 minutes of beginning. The performance of the platform for submitting solutions and over all reliability of the uplevel portal also could be improved.

The course does require commitment and hard work. You have to be dedicated in order to succeed in it and get the most of it. On the other hand the program is designed to motivate you (career instructors put lots of effort in it) for the career shift and with the skills you will gain you just can't agree to less. You will not accept offers with the boring job anymore.

The program really helped me to gain in depth understanding of core concepts and fundamentals of Data Structures and Algorithms. Course is well structured to take one from beginner to advance level. After taking the course, I was able to solve algorithm problems with more efficiency. Mock interviews helped in identifying my weak areas and IK instructors did a commendable job in providing in-depth explanations of different kind of patterns used to solve problems.

Pros: IK is super helpful in cementing a lot of the basics and developing a deeper understanding of the core concepts that are essential to the interview process at any FAANG company. The foundation material is dense, but it is discussed at a swift pace. Omkar's instructional videos are very detailed and break down the essentials into small digestible components, his method of teaching seems academic, yet-tranquil,. The mock interview sessions are super helpful, especially for those who need additional guidance and help with defining their shortcomings. The coaches (current FAANG employees) may bring in their own experience interviewing with FAANG and the mistakes that they wished they could avoid if they could do it all again. The IK staff are very friendly and receptive. They are quick to respond and "go the extra mile."

Cons:  The foundational material + classes + problem-sets can seem overwhelming if you are already working full-time, but any missed material can be reviewed during the support period so they are very accommodating about this.