Readme · Margin

Practise the interview, not just the question.

An AI interviewer for SQL, coding, product and case rounds. It follows your query, code and notes, asks why, and ends with a scorecard that quotes you. Free, no sign-up.

50 questions · 4 roles · 6 company collections · voice or typed

Zomato Checkout Funnel by Platform · SQL · 20 min
Conversation
Interviewer

What is the unit you're counting at each step, and how will you enforce step order?

You

Sessions, not events. Each step uses the first time the previous one happened…

Interviewer

3 of 4 datasets match. What's special about the zero-denominator one?

PostgreSQL
WITH eligible AS (
  SELECT s.session_id, s.platform
  FROM sessions s
  WHERE s.platform IN ('android', 'ios')
), menu AS ( … )
SELECT platform,
  ROUND(100.0 * orders
    / NULLIF(menu, 0), 1)
✓ Check answer
✓ Visible sample
✓ Out-of-order events
✓ Duplicate events
× Zero denominator and cutoff
Interviewer notebook
Output grain restated: one row per platform.requirement
Check answer: 3 of 4 datasets match.testing
Open threadHow does your query treat a platform with no menu views?
Fig 0.1 A SQL interview mid-way: the interviewer reacts to your latest check, not a script.

This is not a question bank. It isn't a leaderboard, a streak counter, or a list of questions someone swears they were asked at Google.

It's a room, a question, and an interviewer who is actually listening.

That's the whole idea. The rest of this page explains why.

Part 01The room

The problem was never the problem.

Interviews score how you reach an answer out loud, with someone in the loop. Silent practice doesn't train that.

Most preparation happens in silence: a problem, an editor, a green checkmark. Real interviews don't work that way.

Someone is watching you think. They interrupt. They ask why you chose a hash map, what happens when the list is empty, which number you would check first.

The skill being tested isn't only reaching the answer. It's reaching it out loud, under gentle pressure, with another person in the loop.

What you practise alone

  • 214 problems solved
  • 41-day streak
  • Accepted · beats 92%

What the room evaluates

  • Did you clarify the input before coding?
  • Can you name the trade-off you just made?
  • What does one row of your query mean?
  • How did you use the hint you asked for?
Fig 1.1 Two lists, one gap.
Part 02The noise

Three things that get in the way.

Practice without a listener, rumours dressed as facts, and scores without evidence. Margin answers each one.

Force 01

Practice without a listener

Grinding alone builds pattern recall. It doesn't build the habit of narrating a decision while someone asks “why?”

In Margin a voice interviewer asks one question at a time and follows what's in your workspace: the failing test, the query grain, the branch of your issue tree.

Force 02

Rumours dressed as facts

“Asked at Amazon” tags, frequency charts with no source, casebooks passed around without dates. They feel precise and are rarely checkable.

In Margin every question carries one of four labels, and a label is only used when the evidence exists.

Official sampleThe company published it.
Reported questionA dated candidate report links to it.
Company-inspiredMargin wrote it using public business context.
General preparationRelevant skills, no company claim.
Why the catalog has no “reported” questions yet

No “asked at” tags or frequency statistics are invented. The current catalog has no reported or official questions, because none is backed by a dated source yet. Company context comes from public sources with review dates, and fictional numbers are labelled fictional.

Force 03

Scores without evidence

“7 out of 10” tells you how it went, not why. Without the why, you practise the same mistakes.

In Margin each interview type has its own rubric, and every score quotes what you said, wrote, or ran.

None of this needs to be complicated. It needs to be honest.

House rules, in large print.

  • Hints are yours to ask for. The interviewer never volunteers one, and each one is recorded on the scorecard.
  • No scores mid-interview. Evaluation stays private until you end the session.
  • Fictional numbers are labelled fictional. Company context comes from public sources with review dates.
  • Suggested times are guidance. The clock is there to help you pace, not to cut you off.
Part 03The margin

An interview, start to finish.

Pick a question and a tone. Work in a real workspace while the interviewer follows along. Leave with evidence, not a vibe.

Before

Choose the room. Check the source. Set the tone.

Start from SDE, ML & Data, Product, or Consulting, or from the company you're targeting. Every brief shows the skills tested, the workspace you'll use, and where the question comes from, with the date its source was reviewed.

Supportive, neutral, or challenging: tone changes the wording and the pacing. It never changes the tests, the evidence standard, or the scorecard.

During

Work where the interview happens.

Python with hidden tests. Real PostgreSQL with edge-case datasets. Notes for cases. A canvas whose text stays editable.

The interviewer sees the latest version of your work, and only speaks when you run, check, or ask.

After

A scorecard that shows its work.

SQL is scored on query correctness and relational reasoning, system design on architecture and trade-offs, consulting on structure and arithmetic. Objective results are pinned; everything else cites evidence.

Practice library
System design Flash-sale Inventory
HardDesign45 min suggested

Company-inspired practice Original brief using an e-commerce flash-sale context.

Flipkart · fictional numbers · reviewed 2026-09-27
Interviewer tone

Same for every tone: voice · tests · evidence standard · scorecard

Scroll through the stages, or pick one. Each plays out live, cursor and all.

Part 04Your room
Part 05Begin

Your interviewer is ready.

Pick one question. Say your first thought out loud.

Practice library

What are you preparing for?

50 questions, every one with a source. Filters live in the address bar, so any view can be shared.

Loading questions…

QuestionCompany/context FormatTime
Personalized practice

Let your resume set the questions.

Upload one resume, add an optional role or job description, and Margin will prepare one grounded interview. Margin keeps your resume's text for up to 90 days so you can practise again; the uploaded file itself isn't kept.

Prepare from a resume

Google's Gemini models read your resume to prepare the interview. Claims and public links are treated as leads to explore, not verified facts.

Saved preparations

Company collections

Which company are you targeting?

Each collection pairs public context with practice questions. Labels say exactly what is known about each question; Margin never invents "asked at" tags or frequency statistics.

How questions relate to companies

Interview history

Every interview, debriefed.

Your reports are saved with Margin and linked to this browser, so they show up only here. Open one to see the verdict, the feedback, and what to practise next. How we handle your data.

← Back to library

Configure interview

Interviewer tone Fixed once the interview starts
Conversation

Tone changes wording and pacing only, not the voice, evidence standard, tests, or scorecard. Hints are given only when you ask, and are recorded.

Interview complete

Writing your report

  1. Saving your work
  2. Reading the transcript and your notes
  3. Scoring each rubric dimension
  4. Writing feedback and next steps

This usually takes under a minute. If the AI evaluator is busy, you'll get a quick report straight away and can regenerate the detailed one later.