Shadowing Practice: Interview Tips from a Senior Software Engineer... and a 4 year old - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hey everybody, it's Jesse, and I'm making this video today from a bunk bed.

This is my friend Ambrose And this is Taggy!

Oh, and my robot hand.

I really love robots!

This is my son

and today I want to talk a little bit about what I did to prepare for my interviews

So the last two videos on my channel were about my Google interview specifically

and then another video just more in general of my whole experience of interviewing.

So I had several questions about what I did to prepare.

So I'm going to go over some of the websites I used

and books and resources and I'm going to let you know which ones I think were the most helpful.

So just to start out, I interviewed for front-end developer positions,

front-end engineer, software engineer positions.

And so my, it was more front-end based for me, all of my interviews, interview questions, and my preparation.

So depending on whether you're front-end, back-end, or full-stack, and what languages you use, this may be a little bit different.

But one service that I think was really valuable was called Pramp.

It's P-R-A-M-P.

I'll make sure I put links to everything I talk about in the description.

So, PRAMP is a service where you sign up and you get paired up with someone else for a time slot.

So, I think it was like an hour time slot.

In the first half hour, one of you takes the role of the interviewer and the other one is the interviewee.

And then, for the second half of the time slot, you switch places.

so it gives you not only do you have a practice question

but you also have a time limit

and you have someone else that's asking the question

that you have to explain yourself to

that was really helpful they have it broken down by different categories so you can just do front-end related stuff

data structures and algorithms.

It can just blast.

Yeah.

Whoa.

I flew it.

And I love tagging.

Because of that, it stood out as being really unique and offering something that some of the other resources didn't.

If I can go to sleep, eat when I sleep without tagging.

If you don't have any experience, like a lot of experience with actual interviews.

Shhh, okay, let's be quiet.

If you don't have experience with interviews, then I definitely recommend PRAMP.

They may have like a free tier.

I'm not sure.

I think it is a paid service, but there may be some way to get some free things.

I'll find out and put more info in the description.

So the next thing that I used that was very, very helpful was a book called Cracking the Coding Interview.

And I know I mentioned this in some of my other videos, and I mentioned it to some of you that ask me questions directly.

It's a huge book.

It has a lot of information in it.

It was written by a woman who actually interviewed a lot of people at Google.

It goes through and explains what interviewers are thinking, what they're looking for when they actually interview you.

Just being able to get into that mindset of what interviewers are actually thinking helped me so much.

It helps me.

You know, there's so many things you could talk about or focus on when you're in an interview.

So just knowing what these people want to hear is great.

Okay, Darth Vader.

Actually, I'm a boss Thomas Spiegel and my last name's Weiger.

That's right.

So, I definitely recommend that book.

And I know Tygie's last name.

Tygie's last name is Ty.

Oh, okay.

There's also a ton of practice problems and explanations of data structures and algorithms.

So, if you were going for a more general software engineer position or a back-end position, then those practice problems would help you a lot.

For me, it wasn't that helpful.

because most of my questions were specifically front-end JavaScript related.

So it was still cool to go over some of that info.

I don't have a computer science background, so a lot of it was new to me.

So I'm sure it'll be helpful to me at some point, but just wasn't so much for the interview.

So if you're going for front-end stuff, then I think it's safe to skip over a lot of those sections of that book.

But the next resource that I used, and this is probably a little bit more front-end specific, is FreeCodeCamp.

So FreeCodeCamp has some practice interview questions,

and they also have some kind of less difficult JavaScript algorithm challenges.

So I think that's a great way to refresh your JavaScript knowledge should

if you already have a job um where you're not coding that much uh all the time

you want to get in the habit of of coding um as much as you can before you interview

you can go wash it off if you want Fine!

I ate a pancake at Jesus.

I'm in the carcass house.

So, I highly recommend Free Code Camp for a variety of things,

but in this case, for sure, for your interview prep.

And another resource that I used was JavaScript Data Structures and Algorithms book.

I'll put the official title and link to that below.

So I ended up getting the e-book.

So I had that on my phone.

So I got the hard copy of the Cracking the Coding interview.

But when I was in a situation where I didn't have my hard copy, but I always had my phone on me, then I could always look at that.

So that helped me because it was JavaScript specific, which is the language that I was being tested in. So

that was, it was easier for me to understand the example problems than what I was seeing in Cracking the Coding interview.

It was just another explanation of some of those data structures and algorithms, which, like I said, ended up not helping me that much because I didn't really get questions about it.

But if you are going for something that's a more full stack position or back end position, you may get asked questions about that.

So I highly recommend that as well.

Something that is back.

You're back.

And I'd recommend that for whatever books you're using,

I think it would be a good idea to have an electronic copy of the book.

So even if you like hard copies, that's great.

If you can only find it in hard copy, that's fine.

And sometimes, especially when you're looking at code, it's a lot easier to just have a hard copy sometimes.

But having that on my phone was so useful.

You know, if I was waiting in line, waiting at the doctor's office, you know, I didn't feel like I was wasting time.

I could always look at that in practice.

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So it just kind of always kept it in my mind.

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And I think that's really helpful. When you're...

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You just need to be able to always be thinking about code.

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It just makes it so much easier when you're actually on the spot in the interview.

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You only have a short amount of time.

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You're probably a little bit nervous.

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So I think it's kind of like...

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This is the Master Sword.

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Yeah, it's the Master Sword from Zelda.

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Yeah.

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I mean, not the Master Sword, but a good replica.

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I think like like you would approach let's say a foreign

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language spoken language with more use you're gonna be more comfortable

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when you actually get into a conversation with somebody the same way with coding even

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if you didn't have great resources

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but you still coded as as often as you could okay squeaky now no we're squeaking

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if you throw it as often as you possibly could that's gonna be more useful than

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if you have great resources the perfect books the perfect questions

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and only looked over them

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you know occasionally

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just practice

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actually go on the interview

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just be be honest okay you don't have to you don't

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have to be down on yourself you don't have to tell the interview all the things you don't know

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but on the other hand don't claim that you know things

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that you don't because they'll be able to figure it out really easily right

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if they say hey do you know how to make a

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network request in javascript you say oh yeah i do it all the time I say, okay, can you do it for me?

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You know, write it on the whiteboard.

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Well, then you're stuck, right, if you don't really know how to do it.

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So just be honest.

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You could say, you know what, hey, I've done it before, but I'm a little rusty on the syntax.

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Or, you know what, I never actually had to do that.

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I kind of know how it's done.

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Can I just explain it to you?

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So something like that is way more acceptable.

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And if you have to just say, listen, I've never heard of that before.

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Just say it.

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And you can even add. So.

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I really like her.

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Hey, can I talk now?

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Yeah.

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Thank you. So. If you don't know.

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Admit that you don't know.

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But then it would be helpful to say.

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Listen, like if I had to do that for my job.

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Here's where I would go to find the answer.

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You know, so say.

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I would I would look this up on MDN or something like that

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And then at least you would you could give some answer even

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if you have no idea you've at least given some answer

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And said like here's how I would approach this this problem

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So Think I'm gonna wrap this video up The that was my my advice.

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Let me know what you think if it's too distracting

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here for the video or if you can't like I want Tiggy to say something and Tiggy say something

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I really like toys and I really like animals

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and I really am spitty and I eat humans

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and I really want pancakes and butter and bread and everything in the whole world.

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I'm going to say goodbye to everybody on YouTube.

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Would you like to say goodbye?

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Bye.

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Bye.

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Bye.

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That was Heidi.

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Bye.

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That was me.

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All right.

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And now you.

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See you later, everybody.

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Hopefully this helped.

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And give me your ideas for what videos I should do next.

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Until next time, have a great day.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Interview Tips from a Senior Software Engineer... and a 4 year old”. This video has 171 sentences and 1799 words to shadow. The speech runs for 12:55. The speaker talks at a steady 139 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
algorithm noun	/ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/	A collection of ordered steps that solve a mathematical problem. A precise step-by-step plan for a computational procedure that possibly begins with an input…
interviewer noun	/ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/	One who interviews.
slot noun	/slɑt/	A narrow depression, perforation, or aperture; especially, one for the reception of a piece fitting or sliding into it.
pancake noun	/ˈpæn.keɪk/	An thin batter cake similar to a crepe, typically unleavened.
stack noun	/stæk/	A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, larger at the bottom than the top, sometimes covered with thatch.
carcass noun	/ˈkɑɹkəs/	The body of a dead animal, especially a vertebrate or other animal having flesh.
interviewee noun	/ˌɪn.tɚ.vjuːˈiː/	Someone being interviewed, i.e. the person answering the questions.
preposition noun	/ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/	Any of a class of non-inflecting words and multiword terms typically employed to connect a following noun or a pronoun, in an adjectival or adverbial sense…
spitty adjective		Characterised by spitting.
squeak verb	/skwiːk/	To emit a short, high-pitched sound.
squeaky adjective	/ˈskwiːki/	Tending to produce a high-pitched sound or squeak.
whiteboard noun	/ˈwaɪtbɔɹd/	A writing board finished with a hard white material, which can be written upon using special non-permanent markers and subsequently wiped clean.
syntax noun	/ˈsɪn.tæks/	A set of rules that govern how words are combined to form phrases and sentences.
rusty adjective	/ˈɹʌsti/	Marked or corroded by rust.
refresh verb	/ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/	To renew or revitalize.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
go over verb	To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze.
break down verb	To stop functioning.
find out verb	To discover, as by asking or investigating.
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
look over verb	To check quickly; to make a brief or cursory visual inspection of.
sign up verb	To add a name to the list of people who are participating in something.
stand out verb	To jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.).

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

Shhh, okay, let's be quiet.
For me, it wasn't that helpful.
Can I just explain it to you?
Hey, can I talk now?
Would you like to say goodbye?

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	was called · was written · being tested
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've done · I've never heard
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	woman who actually · specific, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 56 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, refresh /ɹɪˈfɹɛʃ/
Long words — get the stress right: interviewee /ˌɪn.tɚ.vjuːˈiː/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, developer /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like algorithm, interviewer, slot.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Interview Tips from a Senior Software Engineer... and a 4 year old - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?