Interview Prep¶
Generic prep (patterns, problem lists, STAR) is covered better elsewhere; links are at the bottom. This page covers what UofA already gives you and how interviews changed in 2025-26.
Last verified: October 2026.
What UofA Already Gives You¶
| You need | Where you get it at UofA |
|---|---|
| The algorithms behind most coding rounds (sorting, graphs, DP, greedy) | CMPUT 204. Review your 204 notes before you start grinding problems. |
| Solving timed problems from a written description, then implementing them | CMPUT 303 or CMPUT 403. Lectures are shared; 403 adds contest material and needs a 300-level CMPUT prerequisite. Students often call it the best interview prep at UofA; per the 403 course page, the instructor recommends 303 unless you already have a contest background. |
| Weekly practice with other people | UAPSPC meets weekly and fields ICPC teams; the Rocky Mountain Regional is each fall and UAPC is each March (Clubs and Organizations). You don't have to compete to attend. |
| Behavioural stories | CMPUT 301 (a term-long team app) and CMPUT 401 (a team project for a real stakeholder) give you conflicts, deadlines, changing requirements, and client communication to talk about. Write the stories down when the term ends, while you still remember the details. |
| Reading and reviewing other people's code | CMPUT 402 covers testing, reviews, and continuous integration. |
| Mock interviews and resume review | The SIP office (if you're in SIP) and Career Centre advising. |
How Interviews Changed in 2025-26¶
The classic format (an algorithm problem on a video call) is under pressure from both sides: candidates using AI to cheat, and companies whose engineers now code with AI every day. Expect the format to vary by company, and read each company's AI policy before every round.
- Some companies now expect AI in the interview. Canva replaced its computer science fundamentals screen with an "AI-Assisted Coding" round for backend, frontend, and ML candidates: a realistic, ambiguous product problem where you're judged on decomposing it, deciding when to use the AI, and catching and fixing its mistakes (Canva Engineering, June 2025). Meta began building a coding interview in which candidates have an AI assistant (404 Media, July 2025).
- Others forbid it. Anthropic's candidate guidance allows AI for polishing applications and preparing, but not in live interviews or take-homes unless told otherwise (Anthropic).
- In-person rounds are coming back. After tools marketed for cheating in remote coding interviews spread, Google leadership discussed moving some interviews back on site (CNBC, March 2025), and Sundar Pichai later said Google was reintroducing at least one in-person round (Entrepreneur, Aug 2025). For remote students, that can mean travelling for a final round.
- Interviewers probe more. The same CNBC report describes interviewers watching for off-screen reading and asking candidates to explain how they reached an answer; Google's recruiting VP said interviewers are told to probe answers to check understanding. If you can't explain your code line by line, it doesn't matter who wrote it.
What to do about it: practise both ways. Solve problems unaided so you can pass a proctored or in-person round, and practise building something small with an AI assistant while reviewing every line it writes, so you can pass an AI-assisted one. How UofA courses treat AI is on Learning and Working With AI.
Generic Prep: Go Here Instead¶
- Tech Interview Handbook: free, end-to-end guide to coding, system design, and behavioural rounds.
- NeetCode: problem lists grouped by pattern, with video solutions.
- Kattis: the judge students in 303/403 practise on, good for contest-style problems.
Interviewed Somewhere? Tell Us¶
Interview formats change faster than any guide. If you interviewed for an internship, describe the rounds (in general terms, no exact questions) in an internship write-up. Write-ups live in Internship Write-ups.