Tech interviews are like being asked to cook a three-course meal in someone else’s kitchen while they watch, interrupt, and occasionally question your choice of salt.

You may be a great developer, but interviews often turn experienced professionals into nervous narrators of their own thinking. In this talk, we’ll explore why solid software engineers still fail interviews, how interviewers decode your answers, and where candidates unknowingly drop the pan on the floor.

We’ll replace guesswork with clear signals, show how to talk about your experience without overcooking it, and help you leave interviews sounding confident, credible, and ready to be trusted with the keys to the kitchen.

I’ve been the candidate getting rejected and getting hired. I’ve been the interviewer making the call, and later the coach and business owner helping others through the same process. This talk comes straight from those experiences: the awkward moments, the wrong turns, and the small changes that made a real difference.