Built by an ex-Amazon Bar Raiser · 8 years · 100s of interviews conducted

Stop guessing
what they're
looking for.

Q: When will I receive my playbook?

Within 24 hours of your order. Every playbook is reviewed by a human before it's sent. In practice, most arrive well within 24 hours.

Most candidates prep for questions. The ones who get offers prep for how they’re evaluated. Your playbook does both — built from your resume, your job posting, and how this company actually decides who to hire.

Get My Playbook — $149 See what's inside

30-day money-back guarantee

Delivered within 24 hours

Every playbook reviewed before delivery

Sample Playbook Page 2

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Your Interview Prep Starts Here

Cover & overview — Amazon SDE (sample)

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Where You Stand

Fit score vs. the actual hiring bar

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What They Actually Want

Plain-language translation of the job posting

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Your 2-Minute Pitch

Built from your actual experience

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Your STAR Stories

Pulled from your resume, mapped to their values

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Your STAR Stories (continued)

Every story complete with what strong looks like

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Questions You'll Face

Ranked by frequency, matched to your background

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Scripts for Awkward Questions

How to handle the questions you're dreading

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Your Gap Scripts

Acknowledge → Pivot → Evidence, for each gap

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Your 30/60/90 Day Plan

Shows the panel you're already thinking like a hire

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Interview Day Cheat Sheet

Everything you need on one page, the morning of

How It Works

You bring your resume.
We bring the rest.

Your resume and the job posting tell us where you're starting from. What happens next — matching your background against years of data on how this company actually hires — is on us.

Step 01

Upload your resume and the job posting

Paste in the exact job description you're applying for and upload your resume. That's all we need from you. No questionnaires, no intake forms — we do the heavy lifting from here.

Step 02

We run your profile against everything we know

Your background gets matched against what we know about how this company evaluates candidates for this role — the question patterns, the rubrics, what strong looks like at each level, and where candidates like you typically win or lose. Then a human reviews the result before it goes out.

Step 03

Your playbook arrives within 24 hours

A 50+ page PDF in your inbox — specific to you, grounded in how this company actually decides who to hire, and ready to use from the moment you open it.

Why Trust This

"Most prep teaches you how to answer.
We teach you how they evaluate."

Interview101 was built by an ex-Amazon Bar Raiser — someone who sat on the other side of the table for 8 years and conducted hundreds of interviews across SWE, PM, DS, and TPM roles. The Bar Raiser role exists specifically to hold the hiring bar. We know what separates a hire from a no-hire because we made that call, hundreds of times.

What we found is that candidates who fail don't usually fail because they're unqualified. They fail because they don't know what the interviewer is actually looking for, they haven't connected their own experience to the company's values, and they walk in hoping their stories land rather than knowing they will.

That's the gap Interview101 was built to close.

years conducting
interviews at Amazon

100s

of Hire / No Hire
decisions made

2,699+

candidate interviews
analyzed to build this

The evaluator's rubric is real

The evaluation criteria in your playbook reflects how interviewers are actually trained to assess candidates — not forum speculation.

Every rubric is real

The evaluation criteria in your playbook isn't sourced from forums or guesswork. It reflects how interviewers are trained to assess candidates.

A plan ready to execute

Not a course. Not a session. A complete, structured playbook you can start working through the moment it arrives — organized by what to do first.

Data updated quarterly

Interview patterns change. We only use reports from the past 3 months. What worked 18 months ago may not work today.

Why It Works

The three things that decide your interview.

Most prep focuses on knowledge. What actually decides the outcome is how well your stories land, whether you know the questions coming, and whether you understand what the interviewer is evaluating for. Your playbook covers all three.

Your stories,
already written.

Most candidates know they have good experiences. They just don't know how to find the right ones, frame them as STAR stories, or know which stories Amazon wants vs. which ones Google wants. Your playbook does that work. Full STAR stories pulled directly from your resume bullets, each one mapped to the values and leadership principles this company weighs most heavily in behavioral rounds.

Walk in with a ready answer for every question type they're likely to ask — not a framework you need to apply under pressure, but an actual story, already structured.

No other tool builds your stories from your actual resume

The questions that
prepare you best.

Not a list of "common interview questions." The questions that will prepare you best — ranked by how frequently they appear for this company and role, each matched to which of your stories maps best to it.

There's a big difference between "being ready for behavioral questions" and knowing which specific question types this company weights most heavily, which of your stories maps to each one, and why. Your playbook makes that connection explicit — for the exact company and role you're interviewing for.

2,699+ reported interviews — updated quarterly

What strong looks like
from their side.

This is the thing candidates can't get anywhere else. Not "how to answer behavioral questions" — but the actual rubric interviewers use to decide Hire vs. No Hire. What does a strong answer look like at the level they're hiring for? What signals trip the evaluator? Where do candidates who look good on paper consistently lose the offer?

Your playbook includes the evaluation criteria — your fit score against it, your top gaps ranked by risk, and a script for each gap that acknowledges it, pivots, and closes with evidence.

Built by someone who made the Hire/No Hire decision

Inside Your Playbook

What it actually looks like.

Six sections from a real playbook — built for a Senior SDE applying to Amazon. Yours is built the same way, from your resume.

Section 2 — Where You Stand

Your fit score — with evidence behind every number.

/100

Your Fit Assessment

Strong Match

Distributed systems depth strong.
Culture signals need reinforcing.

Skills match

37 / 40

Experience alignment

35 / 35

Culture & role fit

12 / 25

Skills and experience are where most candidates feel ready. Culture fit is where they get surprised. Your playbook shows you exactly why — and what to do about it.

Section 3 — What They Actually Want

The job description decoded into evaluator language.

What they said	What they mean	How you demonstrate it
"highly scalable distributed systems"	Tests Invent & Simplify — architect at Amazon-scale while keeping it simple?	Your 500K+ RPS microservices at Azure directly demonstrates this scale.
"Lead design reviews and mentor"	Evaluates Earn Trust — influence without authority and develop talent?	8-engineer design reviews + 3 engineers mentored to promotion.
"operational excellence through on-call"	Tests Ownership — full accountability for production systems?	Full on-call rotation + MTTD reduced from 14 to 4 minutes.

The job description tells part of the story. This section decodes what each requirement actually means to the interviewer — and maps it line by line to your background.

Section 5 — Stories That Win Interviews

STAR stories drafted from your resume — not templates to fill in.

✓ From Resume

"Designed microservices handling 500K+ req/sec, reducing p99 latency by 38%"

Situation Verified

At [company], our microservices were struggling with performance issues. p99 latency was unacceptable for [service type].

Action Verify this

I conducted a performance analysis using [profiling tools] and redesigned using [frameworks + patterns].

Result From Resume

Successfully handled 500K+ req/sec with a 38% reduction in p99 latency.

Green = verified from your resume. Amber = plausible draft to confirm. White = only you know this. 8 stories built this way — grounded in what you actually did.

Section 6 — Questions You'll Face

12 questions built for your specific interview — with what great looks like.

System DesignYour Resume

"Walk me through your design decisions for handling backpressure when downstream services couldn't keep up with your 2B+ events/day pipeline."

What great looks like

Names specific strategies: circuit breakers, exponential backoff, queue buffering

Articulates consistency models — eventual vs strong

Discusses monitoring: queue depth, processing lag

Red flags

Discusses backpressure theoretically — no specific implementations

No monitoring or alerting discussion

Single point of failure design

Each question includes what the interviewer is really evaluating, what a strong answer demonstrates, and the exact patterns that cause qualified candidates to fail.

Section 7 — Scripts for Awkward Questions

The exact words to say when they find your weakness.

Algorithms Depth

Re: Strong understanding of data structures and algorithms

Your Bridge Script

"You're right that my resume focuses more on system design than algorithms. While I use data structures and algorithms daily — like [specific example] — I've been working through [prep approach] to sharpen this. What I bring is the ability to translate algorithmic solutions into production systems that actually scale."

Before You Use This Script, Verify:

Can you give a specific example of using algorithms in your current work?

Are you actually doing any practice, or is this something you plan to start?

Every gap your resume has gets a script. Not generic advice — the actual words, grounded in what you actually did, with a checklist to make sure it holds up under pressure.

Section 10 — Interview Day Cheat Sheet

One page. Everything you need. Your name on it.

Jordan M. Chen

SDE · Amazon

No Interview101 branding

Your 30-Second Pitch

"Senior SDE with 7 years building distributed systems at Microsoft, Expedia, and Zillow. Architected microservices handling 500K+ RPS with 99.99% uptime..."

Story Bank

High-Scale Microservices → "optimize performance"

Billion-Scale Pipeline → "tell me about a time you thought big"

Team Leadership → "tell me about a time you developed someone"

Know About Amazon

→

4–6 hour virtual loop, Bar Raiser has veto power

→

Each interviewer owns 2–3 Leadership Principles

→

Written narrative culture — no PowerPoint

Curveball Ready

→

"Biggest failure" — name it, own it, show the lesson

Your 30-second pitch, story bank, company intelligence, and curveball frameworks — one page, your name on it. Print it. Bring it.

What's Inside

Every section is about your interview.

Not a template. Not a guide written for "someone applying to Amazon." A playbook written for you, applying for this specific role, at this specific company.

Where You Stand

A real fit score calculated from how closely your background matches the skills, experience level, and culture signals this company screens for. Your top strengths and top gaps, ranked by how much each one matters at this stage.

What They Actually Want

The job posting translated into what the team is really trying to solve — the explicit requirements, the implied ones, and the signals that tell you what's going wrong on the team right now.

Your Pitch

A 30-second intro and a 2-minute narrative built from your actual experience — crafted to land with this company's culture, not a generic "tell me about yourself" template.

Your Stories

Full STAR stories pulled from your resume, each mapped to the values and leadership principles this company weighs most heavily in behavioral rounds. Walk in with a ready answer for every question type they're likely to ask.

The Questions You'll Face

The questions most likely to come up — ranked by frequency across reported interviews for this company and role, each matched to which of your stories fits best.

Gap Scripts

For your top gaps: ready scripts that acknowledge the gap, pivot to what you do have, and close with evidence. The difference between fumbling a hard question and showing self-awareness under pressure.

Questions to Ask Them

Strategic questions tailored by who's across the table — hiring manager, peer, skip-level. Questions that show you've done the work and already think like someone in the role.

Your 30/60/90 Plan

A first-90-days roadmap built for this role. Shows the panel you're already thinking past the offer — one of the most consistent signals that separates a hire from a strong candidate who didn't get it.

Company Intelligence

What's happening at this company right now — strategic priorities, recent shifts, and what those mean for how they're evaluating candidates today. Updated quarterly.

Interview Day Cheat Sheet

One page. Your key stories, the themes to hit, things to avoid, and the questions you're asking. Review it once on the morning of, put it down, and walk in focused.

Every claim in your playbook traces directly to your resume or the job posting. Nothing is invented.

Pricing

One playbook.
Everything you need.

You're applying for a role that could change your career. The cost of walking in underprepared is not $149.

Built from your actual resume

Every story, every strength, every gap identified comes from what you've actually done — not a generic template filled with placeholders.

Grounded in how this company actually interviews

The interview patterns, evaluation criteria, and what the hiring bar looks like at this specific company — sourced from reported interviews and updated quarterly.

Created by someone who sat in that chair

The rubric in your playbook reflects how interviewers actually evaluate candidates — built from the evaluator's side of the table, not from candidate guesswork.

Reviewed before it reaches you

Every playbook is checked by a human before delivery. Not automated and sent raw — reviewed to make sure it delivers before it lands in your inbox.

Interview Playbook

Your complete interview prep package

$ 149

One-time payment. One playbook. Your interview.

50+ page personalized PDF playbook

Real fit score vs. the actual hiring bar

STAR stories built from your resume

Predicted questions with answer frameworks

Gap scripts for your weakest areas

30/60/90 plan + interview day cheat sheet

Reviewed by a human before delivery

Delivered within 24 hours via email

Get My Playbook →

30-day money-back guarantee. No questions asked.

How We Compare

Different tools. Different jobs to be done.

LeetCode sharpens your coding. Coaching sessions give you real-time feedback. Interview101 gives you a complete, personalized prep plan in 24 hours — before you need any of those things to matter.

Good for coding drills

LeetCode / Courses

Personalized to your resume

Same content for everyone

STAR stories built for you

You build your own stories

Company-specific questions

Generic question lists

Evaluator's rubric

Not available

Cost

~$12–$144/year subscription

Time to be ready

Weeks to months of study

Good for live feedback

1-on-1 Coaching

Personalized to your resume

During the session

STAR stories built for you

Verbally, in one session

Company-specific questions

Depends on coach expertise

Evaluator's rubric

If the coach has it

Cost

$150–$300 per hour

Time to be ready

Depends on availability

Good for quick practice

ChatGPT / AI Tools

Personalized to your resume

Questions only

STAR stories built for you

Not included

Company-specific questions

Generic AI generation

Evaluator's rubric

Not available — hallucinated

Cost

~$9–$30/month subscription

Time to be ready

Immediate but no plan

Complete prep plan
Interview101
Personalized to your resume
Every section, every word
STAR stories built for you
Full stories from your resume
Company-specific questions
From 2,699+ real interviews
Evaluator's rubric
From an ex-Bar Raiser
Cost
$149 one-time
Time to be ready
24 hours

What Interview101 has that others don't

Interview101

$149 · One-time · 24 hours

Personalized to your resume — every section

STAR stories built from your actual resume

Questions from 2,699+ real reported interviews

The evaluator's rubric — from an ex-Bar Raiser

Gap scripts for your specific weaknesses

Ready in 24 hours — not weeks

Get My Playbook — $149 →

FAQ

Common questions.

What makes this different from a generic interview guide?+

Every section of your playbook is generated from your resume and the exact job posting you're applying for, cross-referenced against how this specific company evaluates candidates for this specific role. The stories come from your actual experience. The predicted questions come from thousands of reported interviews at this company. The gap scripts address your actual gaps. Nothing is generic — every word is about you and this interview.

Which companies and roles are supported?+

We cover Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Netflix, and NVIDIA — the 7 companies with the most rigorous and well-documented interview processes in the industry. Across 6 roles: Software Engineer, Product Manager, Data Scientist, Data Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, and Technical Program Manager.

How is the fit score calculated?+

The fit score is calculated deterministically — not an AI guess. It measures how closely your skills match what this role requires, how your experience level aligns with the seniority they're hiring for, and how well your background reflects the culture signals this company screens for. Each dimension is scored separately and you can see exactly how in your playbook.

How current is the interview data?+

We only use interview reports from the past three months. Interview patterns at these companies shift — a process change 18 months ago shouldn't be shaping your prep today. We track changes to interview formats, evaluation criteria, and round structures as they're reported, and update quarterly.

When will I receive my playbook?+

Within 24 hours of your order. You'll receive a confirmation immediately after purchase. Every playbook is reviewed by a human before it's sent — so you're not getting raw automated output. In practice, most arrive well within 24 hours.

What's the refund policy?+

30-day money-back guarantee. If your playbook doesn't deliver clear value, contact us within 30 days for a full refund. No conditions, no hoops.

Can’t I just use ChatGPT for this?+

You can upload your resume and job description to ChatGPT — and you’ll get something. What you won’t get is an actual interview model for this company and role: how rounds are structured, what the evaluator is trained to score, which values are weighted most heavily, and what the debrief looks like. That model was built from 2,699+ reported interviews. It reflects what actually happens in these loops — not what ended up in an AI’s training data.

ChatGPT also can’t give you the evaluation rubric. It will generate plausible-sounding criteria — but hallucinated criteria is the most dangerous kind of prep. If you walk in believing Amazon evaluates on X when they actually weight Y, you’ve optimized for the wrong thing.

The honest version: a technically strong candidate could spend 3–4 days prompting and iterating with ChatGPT to get close. Or spend 30 minutes with a structured playbook grounded in real data — with a 30-day guarantee behind it.

Stop guessing
what they're
looking for.

You bring your resume.
We bring the rest.

The three things that decide your interview.

What it actually looks like.

Every section is about your interview.

The 7 hardest interviews in tech.

Built for your role, not just the company.

One playbook.
Everything you need.

Different tools. Different jobs to be done.

Common questions.

Walk in knowing.
Not hoping.

Stop guessingwhat they'relooking for.

You bring your resume.We bring the rest.

The three things that decide your interview.

What it actually looks like.

Every section is about your interview.

The 7 hardest interviews in tech.

Built for your role, not just the company.

One playbook.Everything you need.

Different tools. Different jobs to be done.

Common questions.

Walk in knowing.Not hoping.

Stop guessing
what they're
looking for.

You bring your resume.
We bring the rest.

One playbook.
Everything you need.

Walk in knowing.
Not hoping.