Interview Kickstart

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.