Technical interviews aren’t just about knowing algorithms—they’re about staying effective when you get stuck. If you’ve ever blanked during live coding or felt your brain stall mid-problem, this post is for you.

Why “getting stuck” is normal (and testable)

Interviewers often care less about instant perfection and more about:

• How you reason under uncertainty
• Whether you can turn confusion into structure
• If you can communicate and recover without spiraling

The good news: you can practice a repeatable recovery playbook.

The 4-step recovery plan (use it verbatim)

1) Restate + lock requirements (30–60 seconds)

When you feel stuck, pause and summarize:

• Inputs/outputs (types, constraints)
• Edge cases (empty input? duplicates? negative values?)
• Time/space expectations

Script: “Let me restate the problem to confirm I’m solving the right thing…”

2) Do a tiny example and narrate your thinking (1–2 minutes)

Pick a simple test case and walk through what the answer should be.

• Write it down
• Track variables/state
• Notice patterns (sorting? two pointers? stack behavior?)

This often reveals the right data structure or invariant.

3) Choose an approach with tradeoffs (and commit)

Don’t hunt for the perfect solution in silence. Offer two options:

• A straightforward baseline (even if slower)
• An optimized approach

Then ask:

• “Does an O(n log n) solution meet constraints?”
• “If we need O(n), I’d use a hashmap/stack/two pointers because…”

Pro tip: Interviewers love seeing you evaluate tradeoffs like a real engineer.

4) Implement in “checkpoints” + test as you go

Break code into checkpoints:

• Function signature
• Core loop/recursion
• Helper structures
• Return value

After each checkpoint, run through your earlier example.

Safety rails:

• Name variables clearly
• Add brief comments for invariants (e.g., # stack is monotonic decreasing)
• If you hit a bug, state what you’re testing and why

Common failure modes (and quick fixes)

• Silence for 2+ minutes: narrate what you’re considering and why.
• Over-optimizing early: start with the clean baseline, then optimize.
• Messy edge cases: explicitly list them before coding.
• Code panic: slow down and re-check invariants and indices.

A mini-practice challenge

Next time you practice, deliberately pick a medium problem and force yourself to say:

1. requirements
2. example
3. two approaches
4. checkpoints

You’re not just solving problems—you’re training interview behavior.

What’s the moment you get stuck most often (understanding the prompt, choosing the approach, or debugging), and what do you usually do when it happens?