Neurodivergent-Friendly Tips to Survive Technical Interviews (Without Losing Your Mind)

What’s your biggest fear?

The Bermuda Triangle? Going to dinner alone? Getting eaten by a shark?

Mine? Technical interviews. Iykyk.

It’s the perfect storm of public speaking, thinking on your feet, and..well, engineered panic. For the neurodivergent candidate (hello, you 👋), going through a technical interview can be a real doozy.

The sense of urgency and the dopamine hit of working under pressure works really well for some of us. For others, the pressure quickly turns into paralysis and freeze. And if you’re lucky, you get to experience both — in the same technical interview 😅.

Now, I’m not here to rattle off the “greatest hits” of technical interview tips - Lord Google is full of that stuff and you’ve probably done those things. I want to share a few NeuroQueer-friendly approaches that help to ease the General Horror and Stress of technical interviews. Keep in mind, there really isn’t much ‘science’ behind this so take what you need and leave the rest!

“You’re living in a fantasy!” - Miranda Hobbes

I just feel like I need you to know that I don’t support/accept/acknowledge any Sex and the City content after the first movie, okay? Okay.

Now that we’re clear on that…

Feeling like you’re about to be exposed as a fraud is something that affects lots of folks, but there is a particularly strong link between neurodivergence and imposter syndrome. There’s a lot of room for these feelings during a technical interview because you’re not talking about your background and qualifications - you are actively demonstrating your hard skills and expertise by solving problems live. If you let these feelings get in the way during the interview, you’ll get tripped up. The solution? Pretend to be someone else.

I know this is kind of a hot take for so many reasons - not least of which because at Colorful Futures, we actively encourage you to unmask. But I’m not talking about masking in the sense of fitting yourself into a world built for a neurotypical brain - I’m talking about playing the part of someone who knows what they’re doing. It’s not enough for me to tell my brain to Be Confident ™️. What even is confidence when you’ve felt like an outsider for most of your life?

But, I know I’ve seen Kat Stratford act confident in “10 Things I Hate About You”. So, I’ll just pretend to be Kat Stratford who also knows how to solve easy to medium-level LeetCode problems 🤷‍♀️. The thing about using this “playing-pretend-method” is that it usually whoever you’re projecting is a part of you anyways. You’re just giving that part of you permission to do it’s thing.

Freak out

Ya. I said it. Freak out. Ugly cry. Panic-clean your kitchen. Whatever your process is — do it. Emotional regulation for the neurodivergent brain is a full-time job. Take sick time from that full-time job. Obviously don’t put yourself in a position where your mental health is going to take a hit but don’t push those nerves all the way down either. Some mixed-method studies have shown that when neurodivergent folks talk things through in therapy or with a trusted friend, it can help in emotional processing. Allowing your inner dialogue to go bananas or journaling can also be helpful ways to let yourself go through the feelings you’re having. Getting ahead of them and out of your body before a technical interview can be very valuable so they don’t get a chance to distract you!

A change of plans

In 2025, landing a job is damn near impossible. Taking a chance on your approach is risky and can be a privilege. But, maybe this could help you like it helped me. I was going into every technical interview with an all-or-nothing mindset. Sound familiar, NeuroQueers?

One thing that helped me slight that mindset was to change my goal. In my mind, the goal wasn’t to land the job. It wasn’t to get everything right.

The goal simply became understanding.

Your technical interview is like The Matrix: your job isn’t to dodge every bullet — it’s to see the code. Don’t try to jump to solving the problem right away - try to understand it.

Getting it “right” is a bonus.

Focus on unpacking the question, showing how you think, and talking through your approach out loud. Why could your approach work? What about your approach could create a blocker? If you’re worried you’re over-explaining, rest assured - you’re probably not. The interviewer will stop you if they want you to move on — but they can’t read your mind unless you narrate what’s happening in it. This is by far the toughest change I made to my approach but it has paid off the most!

No one likes this

The truth is I’ve never met anyone that likes technical interviews. They’ll never be fun. Unless your idea of fun is performing live problem-solving in front of strangers who have mastered the HR neutral face — in which case, you should be writing this post! But they can be survivable when you bring your neurodivergent brain along for the ride instead of fighting it. Let yourself feel it, talk it out, and look at it like a puzzle, not a pop quiz.

You don’t need to “fix” your process; you just need to understand it 💗