Frequently Asked Questions
Premium
If you have an active premium membership, a credit is auto-applied at checkout when you buy more time. For month or year purchases, that credit is a small fixed amount that stacks on top of any live discount. For lifetime purchases, the credit is prorated based on what you paid and the time remaining on your current membership, so the earlier you upgrade, the larger the credit.
Heads up if you're thinking about starting on monthly and upgrading to yearly later: the top-off is a fixed credit, not a refund of what you paid for the month. That means monthly-then-upgrade costs more in total than buying the year plan upfront. If you're fairly sure you want a year, start with the year.
No, this is a one-time purchase. Your card won't be charged multiple times.
Yes! For fixed duration purchases, your access is valid for 1 year or 1 month from the date of purchase, and you will have access to all future problems (and new features) as they are released. For lifetime purchases, you will have access to all future problems and content as they are released.
No, we release new content and problems as we can. You can see recent additions on our changelog. If you want to see a specific problem you can vote for it.
We're adding problems all the time. If you want to see a specific problem you can vote for it.
No, the account is for your personal use only and cannot be transferred.
Mock Interviews
General
Sessions are 1 hour long. Your coach will spend some time getting to know your background, where you're at in your interview prep, and your goals. There will be a few minutes if you have any open-ended questions about the process. Technical mock interviews will typically last 30-40 minutes after which your coach will debrief you on how you did, areas of improvement, and brainstorm on next steps. The entire session is recorded (private to you and your coaches!) and you'll receive a detailed feedback writeup within 24 hours.
For behavioral interviews, coaches can generally adapt to questions or topics you may want to cover. For design interviews (system design, ML system design, etc) we do not support candidate-provided questions. The reason for this is simple: coaches have actually conducted dozens of interviews and are able to observe how candidates respond to known questions. This gives them a calibrated "bar" for what is passing and what is not. If a coach is ad-libbing a question they haven't asked before, (a) they're solving it right alongside you, and (b) they haven't calibrated on what a typical candidate would be able to do; the feedback isn't anchored.
We meet with all coaches before they join the platform, vet them, and continuously evaluate their performance so you don't have to!
We'll do our best to support you, but may not be able to support every type of interview. Use the chat in the lower-left corner or email us at support@hellointerview.com if you have questions and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
After you complete your first session you'll have the option to either (a) try to schedule again with that coach, or (b) schedule a session explicitly with a different coach. Up to you. Note: coach availability is a constraint, we cannot guarantee availability.
You are not required to have video on for the session, but most users do and it can be helpful to get a full picture for your feedback.
We do not currently support TPM mock interviews. Our interviewers are not trained to do TPM interviews and we've found that TPM interviews at some companies diverge from the SWE-specific competencies. While our content may be useful for you, it's not TPM-specific. We do not provide mocks or mentorship for TPM at this time.
Credits and Purchases
We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee on completed mocks. If you are unsatisfied with the experience you had, you can request a refund within 72 hours by emailing us at support@hellointerview.com and we'll get it sorted out.
You have the option of purchasing a package of mocks in advance. Credits are valid for up to 1 years after the date of purchase, after which they expire.
Generally, no. Please purchase credits you expect to use. If you have an exceptional situation, please email us at support@hellointerview.com and we'll do our best to help.
Mocks can be rescheduled up to 3 times with 24 hours notice. Simply visit the Upcoming Mocks page and click "Reschedule".
Mocks can be cancelled at any time for no charge 24 hours in advance. Inside of 24 hours, we charge a $25 fee which must be paid before the credit is re-used. Email us at support@hellointerview.com if you have questions.
Stuff happens. For no-shows, we charge a $50 fee which is passed to your coach as compensation for the time spent. You'll receive an email with instructions on how to pay the fee and reinstate your credit. Email us at support@hellointerview.com if you have questions.
Platform
Recognition is a measure of your contributions to the Hello Interview community. You earn recognition when other users find your content helpful. Here's how you can earn recognition:
- 10 points when someone upvotes your "Ask the Community" question
- 10 points when someone bookmarks your system design submission
- 5 points when someone upvotes your comment
- 10 points when someone marks your interview experience report as helpful
Your recognition score is visible when you hover over your username in comments and other community contributions.