InterviewBit Review: A Free Software Engineer Interview Prep Academy

InterviewBit is a tech interview training school with its headquarter in Pune, India. The school offers free training courses that help you prepare for a tech-job interview completely free of charge. They make their money by providing highly qualified programmers to their partner companies, which is why they’ll even give you a bonus if you take a job with said companies through their referral.

Who Is InterviewBit For?

InterviewBit is a prep program for people who already know how to code but who are afraid to mess up their tech-job interview due to lack of experience. It’s mainly targeted to computer science students who want to apply for their first job or working professionals in the tech industry who want to apply for a new job. They won’t teach you how to code from scratch but they will help you revisit and perhaps polish many concepts related to programming, systems design, and other computer-science-based topics you may have forgotten along the way.

The topics you need to know before starting are:

• Basic programming in one of C / C++ / Java / Python.
• You should have a good understanding of loops and if – else constructs.
• You should understand about the scope of variables and size of each data type.

Regardless of this, anyone can sign up and start practicing for their interview right away. You’ll need to put in around 2 to 3 hours of your time every day in order to finish the course in the prescribed time of 3 months. However, you may take as long as you want or you can also finish faster than that if you put in enough effort.

Features & Benefits of InterviewBit

Here are a few of the most important features and benefits of InterviewBit:

Totally Free, No Strings Attached

The best thing about InterviewBit is the fact that it’s free. Anyone can join and start taking practice questions and access all of their tutorials and educational resources after providing only the bare minimum of information, which is your email address.

Their unspoken goal is to build a large database of talented coders so that they can act as recruiters for big tech companies. This business model is perfect for coders since it means that they’ll gain that extra bit of training they didn’t get at school free of charge, while at the same time being paired up with amazing job opportunities, provided you fit the profile, of course. On the flipside, InterviewBit gets a quickly growing database of candidates to show their partner companies, and they make sure that applicants are in tip-top shape for each company’s tech interview to ensure they’ll get the job, because, if they do get a job offer and accept it, InterviewBit will get paid.

A Gamified Learning Environment

If you look through the InterviewBit platform, you’ll see that the different courses or “tracks” they offer are organized in very much the same way as an online game. You advance by levels earning points as you solve problems, you interact with your peers. Students are also ranked according to their accomplishments.

This type of education is not only highly engaging, but it’s also a very effective learning strategy in part because it makes learning more fun.

A Solid And Highly Engaged Peer Community

Another one of the most distinguishable features of InterviewBit is that the courses in each cohort are virtually driven by the community. If or when you get stuck on a problem, you can request help, which will cost you a certain number of coins, generally 10. When someone helps you out, they’ll earn coins in return and you can also add in a tip of your own.

Besides giving you a helping hand, peers are also responsible for the mock interview sessions. The platform will set you and another student up with several interview questions and you’ll each have 45 minutes to interview one another. In the end, you’ll each evaluate the other’s performance.

100% Online

Finally, the fact that these courses can be taken totally online means that you can practice for your interview with InterviewBit no matter where you are. You could be sipping margaritas by the beach while taking a mock interview with one of your peers or while going through the course material.

Self-Paced Learning

Although the course is designed to last 3 months, you can put in as much or as little work on it every day as you want. That means that you can finish it sooner than the rest of the cohort or earlier. It’s all up to you and your schedule.

InterviewBit's Course List

Students who enroll in any of InterviewBit's programs, except for the Scaler Academy, get more than 120 hours worth of training in answering tech interviews. The school offers instruction from vetted professionals who are currently working in the industry. 

InterviewBit offers 8 different programs:

• Programming Track.
• Python Fast-Track.
• Java Fast-Track.
• C++ Fast-Track.
• JavaScript Fast-Track.
• System Design Track.
• Databases Track.
• Scaler Academy.

In the folowing table, you'll find an overview of the basic features and cost of these 8 courses.

Course	Course Type	Course Length	Tuition
Programming Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
Python Fast-Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
Java Fast-Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
C++ Fast-Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
JavaScript Fast-Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
System Design Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
Databases Track	Part-time self-paced Online	3 months (Around 20 hours/week)	FREE
Scaler Academy	Part-time self-paced Online	31, 37 or 47 Weeks (Around 20 hours/week)	INR 250,000 (around $3,300)

Here’s a breakdown of all of these programs:

Programming Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

This course is built around the fundamentals of computer science and programming languages. You'll revise how computers and their operating systems work and how different programming languages are used to solve many different types of problems.

Skills you will learn

The Programming Track course focuses on the following skills:

• Algorithms, a finite sequence of defined, computer-implementable instructions, typically to solve problems or to perform a computation.
• Data Structure, a format of organization, management, and storage of data that enables efficient access and modification of it.

It is assumed that those who enroll already have a working knowledge of coding in general.

Python Fast-Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

This fast-track course focuses solely on Python, an open source programming language used for data analysis. Here you'll cover the fundamentals of types of data and variables.

Coding Languages You Will Learn

The core coding languages you will learn in the Python Fast-Track course are:

• Python, free software environment and programming language for statistical computing and graphics supported by the R Foundation for Statistical Computing.

Java Fast-Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

If the job you like has something or everything to do with Java, then this is the course to take before your interview! Revisit this app development system and nail all of your questions in record time.

Skills you will learn

The Java Fast-Track course focuses on the following skills:

• Java, a system for developing application software and distributing it in a cross-platform computing environment.

C++ Fast-Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

This course focuses on interview questions regarding the popular C++ programming language. It's designed for you to cover the basics and work your way up one problem at a time.

JavaScript Fast-Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages out there, so you can bet that interview questions regarding it will go deep into the subject.

Coding Languages You Will Learn

The core coding languages you will learn in the JavaScript Fast-Track course are:

• JavaScript, also known as JS, the programming language for the Web. It is used to make web pages dynamic and interactive, since it can update and change both HTML and CSS.

System Design Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

Systems design is all about data storage and scalability, and that's exactly what you'll cover in this Fast Track.

Coding Languages You Will Learn

The core coding languages you will learn in the System Design Track course are:

• SQL, domain-specific programming language designed for managing data held in a relational database management system or for stream processing in a relational data stream management system.

Databases Track

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Rolling start date
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	3 months
Cost or Tuition	FREE

The world is relying on data more and more as time goes by, and all that data is stored and organized in databases. Knowing how to access that data via queries is the only way to tap into the huge goldmine that is data, and that's something companies are bound to pay a pretty penny for.

Coding Languages You Will Learn

The core coding languages you will learn in the Databases Track course are:

• SQL, a database management programming language.

Scaler Academy

Location	Online
Class Size	N/A
Start Dates	Mid July
Time Commitment	Part-time self-paced Around 20 hours per week.
Course Length	31, 37 or 47 Weeks
Cost or Tuition	INR 250,000

The Scaler Academy program (previously known as InterviewBit Academy) is an upskilling program for professional coders that teaches full stack web development and other skills. This is a long-format educational course that can last from 31 to 47 weeks, depending on your level of expertise beginner to specialist.

Skills you will learn

The Scaler Academy course focuses on the following skills:

• NoSQL, a broad class of database management systems that differ from the classic RDBMS model in important respects, the most prominent being that they do not use SQL as the main query language.
• Object Oriented Programming, also known as OOP, also known as OOP, is a programming paradigm based on “objects”, that can contain data and code (data in the form of fields, and code, in the form of procedures).
• Model-View-Controller, also known as MVC, a special programming architecture.
• REST, a software architecture which uses a subset of HTTP and is commonly used to build interactive applications with web services.
• Application Programming Interface, also known as APIs, an interface that defines interactions between multiple software applications or mixed hardware-software intermediaries.
• Object-relational mapper, also known as ORM, a programming technique for converting data between incompatible type systems using object-oriented programming languages.

Coding Languages You Will Learn

The core coding languages you will learn in the Scaler Academy course are:

• Hypertext Markup Language, also known as HTML, the standard markup language used in building applications and web pages.
• Cascading Style Sheets, also known as CSS, also known as CSS, is a style sheet language used for describing how a document written in a markup language will look.
• JS, the programming language for the Web.
• SQL, a database management programming language.

Job Placement & Career Support

The whole point behind InterviewBit is precisely to provide both job placement help and career support to their students. It’s how they make their income, to begin with, so you can be sure that they’re putting as much effort into it as they can. Here are some of the companies that have hired InterviewBit graduates:

Amazon	Uber	Booking.com	Grofers
Hike	Zomato	10i Commerce	Capital Float
Rapyuta Robotics	Ola	Rubrik	Flipkart
Innovaccer	Tower Research Capital	cK-12	MindTickle!
Directi	Moonfrog	Twitter	Google
Microsoft	Adobe	Goldman Sachs	Walmart
Myntra	Media.net	Olx	NUTANIX
ATLASSIAN	PayTM	Gojek	PayPal
Cleartax	Capillary	Oneplus	Wakefit
Toppr	Snapdeal	nvidia	Intuit
Salesken	Zeta	Tekion	Samsung
Lucideus	Ajio	Needl.ai	Delhivery
Dgraph

One thing that you must keep in mind is that not everyone gets referred to these companies, you have to earn it. To get referred, you need to make sure:

• You perform consistently well on the platform.
• You maintain your daily goals. This is usually a preset number of points you’ll need to earn every day. The base number is 200 points per day.
• You’re at the top of the rankings.

If you manage to keep up your stats and stand out from the crowd, then you will, according to InterviewBit:

• Get referred to the best opportunities across the globe.
• Get recent interview experiences before your actual interviews.
• Be assigned a mentor for free interview preparations.
• Do mock-interviews to take your preparation to the next level.

On the other hand, through their paid program, Scaler Academy, they’ve placed over 1,500 learners and thousands of others are currently enrolled. This makes the internal community network vibrant and fulfilling. This community represents lifelong access to a peer network of talented individuals doing groundbreaking work at some of the best technology companies in the world.

Through multiple channels, alumni and current learners use this platform to share information on job opportunities, collaborate on projects, help others with authentic interview experiences as well as tips about competitive programming contests.

Along with this alumni network which is strong in itself, Scaler Academy also has a dedicated placement support team to help students get to their dream tech companies.

Earning Potential

InterviewBit does not disclose the salaries of candidates who get hired through InterviewBit referrals. However, the company does offer that information for their paid Scaler Academy program.

Here’s a breakdown of the global stats they offer:

• Of all placed students, 45.6% work at top multinational companies, including tech giants like PayPal, Amazon and Microsoft. The remaining work at startups.
• 43.8% of placed learners is currently in SDE-2 positions or higher. SDE-2 refers to a 2nd-level position as a Software Developer Engineer.
• The average Return on investment (RoI) for Scaler Academy graduates is 4.5X. Those who joined the course while working at a product-based company got 5X. In both cases, RoI was calculated as a salary increase before and after Scaler Academy, divided by the course price.
• According to InterviewBit, Amazon hires more graduates from Scaler Academy than from India’s top 20 engineering colleges, including the IITs.

In terms of salaries, which in countries like India are referred to as CTC or Cost to Company (the total salary package for 1 year), these depend on your experience. The following table summarizes the different levels of income (or buckets, as they call them) you’re likely to get after finishing Scaler Academy, according to the number of years of experience you have in the field:

Years of Experience	Cost to Company
Less than 3 years of experience	INR 16.5 lakhs per year (around $22,200)
3 to 7 years of experience	INR 22.5 lakhs per year (around $30,300)
More than 8 years of experience	INR 39.5 lakhs per year (around $53,100)
The highest salary package	INR 1.5 crore at a global company (around $202,000)

Costs, Payment Plans & Scholarships

Costs

As we mentioned earlier in this post, all of InterviewBit’s services that relate to interview prepping are completely free of charge, since InterviewBit makes money from their corporate partners by providing highly-skilled, job-ready programmers that will hit the ground running once they’re hired.

However, they do charge a fee for the Scaler academy program. That course is worth IND 250,000 (or INR 2.5 Lakhs, if you prefer) which is close to $3,300.

Payment Plans

In the case of Scaler Academy, you can choose to pay tuition upfront or you can pay it in Equated Monthly Installments or EMI. There are several different plans to choose from, some without interests, others with them.

No-Cost EMI

Total amount	Upfront down payment	Amount Split over EMI	Duration	Installments	Total
IND 250,000	INR 35,000	INR 215,000	6	INR 36,000	INR 251,000
			9	INR 24,000	INR 251,000
			12	INR 18,000	INR 251,000

Standard Interest Rate EMI

Total amount	Upfront down payment	Amount Split over EMI	Duration	Installments	Total
IND 250,000	INR 35,000	INR 215,000	24	INR 11,000	INR 299,000
			36	INR 8,500	INR 309,500

As you can see, you can take up to 3 years to pay back tuition, but you’ll end up paying almost INR 60,000 more on interests alone.

Besides this payment plan, there is another one specifically designed for students who get awarded a scholarship, but we’ll cover that one further down the post when addressing that scholarship.

Scholarships

InterviewBit offers an IND 25,000 scholarship to join Scaler Academy. This reduces the total amount that’s split between the installments, lowering both the total amount of interest you’ll have to pay and the size of the instalments.

No-Cost EMI

Reduced Tuition	Upfront down payment	Amount Split over EMI	Duration	Installments	Total
IND 225,000	INR 35,000	INR 190,000	6	INR 32,000	INR 227,000
			9	INR 21,000	INR 224,000
			12	INR 16,000	INR 227,000
			18	INR 10,500	INR 224,000
			19	INR 10,000	INR 225,000

Standard Interest Rate EMI

Reduced Tuition	Upfront down payment	Amount Split over EMI	Duration	Installments	Total
IND 225,000	INR 35,000	INR 190,000	24	INR 10,000	INR 275,000
			30	INR 8,000	INR 275,000
			36	INR 7,200	INR 294,200

Refund policy

When you sign up to Scaler Academy, you have a two-week grace period during which you can try the program out. If you don’t feel like it’s for you, you can withdraw from the course and you will receive a full refund.

How To Apply

This is what you need to do to start training and to be referred to a job interview with InterviewBit:

Step 1: Sign Up

This is as simple as providing your email or, better yet, signing up with your gmail account.

Step 2: Upload Your Resume

You can apply for referrals either by uploading your resume or submitting details about work experience and academics. You can upload an image or a PDF document. It’s generally not a good idea to upload a word doc.

Step 3: Wait For Company Matching

Once they have your resume, InterviewBit will start matching your profile with several different companies from their partners list.

Step 4: Choose Your Company

Once InterviewBit shortlists a group of matching companies where you’d likely be a good fit, it’s time for you to shorten the list even further. This means selecting the companies that most appeal to you from the list provided in step 3.

If you have a strong profile, you’re likely to be able to choose from plenty of options, just like the example in the image above where the candidate has 22 companies to choose from.

To select a company, all you have to do is click on Show Interest, as shown in the image above. These companies will be listed as “Interest Shown”. InterviewBit will then refer your resume to these companies and you’ll have to wait a bit to be accepted for an interview.

Step 5: Schedule An Interview

You’ll see which companies showed interest in interviewing you under the “Active Interviews” tab in your InterviewBit Dashboard.

Once you click on “Select Slot for Next Round”, you’ll be taken to an interactive calendar where you can choose the date and time for your interview from the available options.

How to Get Accepted

There is no application process for InterviewBit so anyone can join and start training to improve their skills in tech interviews. However, if you want to increase your chances of being referred to a multinational tech company, you’ll need to fulfill the following criteria:

• Have a good notion of programming in C, C++, Python or JavaScript.
• Submit a well-crafted resume.
• It’s preferable if you have prior working experience, but it’s not mandatory.
• You must maintain a consistent performance in the platform as you go through the problems and challenges.
• You have to be one of the top rankers of your cohort.

InterviewBit User Reviews

Here are just a handful of verified InterviewBit reviews from a few of their members:

“I have never been great at problem-solving. Never done any competitive coding. And I quite frankly never believed that I could get any better with those skills. While I still feel I have a really really long way to go, I just want to take some time to thank my mentor Pragy Agarwal for keeping his patience and keeping me motivated and for Scaler Academy for making me believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel even in these dark times. ” — Baishali Ghosh

“My Success Story at InterviewBit Academy (Scaler Academy) I was a part of the Scaler Academy course of May 2019 Batch. Even after not being in any of the top tier colleges, InterviewBit helped me get a job I have always wanted.” — Abhishek Thakur

“I had joined Scaler mainly for learning. And the one thing that kept me motivated throughout was seeing the hard work all teachers put, taking classes everyday tirelessly late into the night.” — Kritika Agarwal

“Getting to learn core topics from masters in the fields, having inspirational figures like the founders at the helm, mentorship by people working at Google and Facebook- these all made for an unmatched experience.” — Naman Bhalla

“I would like to thank Scaler Academy, Anshuman Singh and my mentor Devanshu who put in their efforts to constantly encourage me and motivated me to work harder towards achieving my goal. I am so lucky to have the best mentor team that made me a better programmer and finally helping me lend multiple job offers from various tech companies.” — Ravi Kant

How To Contact InterviewBit

In the following table, you'll find the most important contact info so you can get in touch with InterviewBit in order to learn more, ask any questions you may have or sign up.

Phone	N/A
Email	[email protected]
Social Media
Apply Now button	LEARN MORE
Mailing Address	1004, Tower 7 Amanora Park Town, Hadpsar Pune, MH, India 411028

In Summary

After considering their offering, there is no doubt that InterviewBit offers a great deal of value asking for very little in return. This company is a solid choice for programmers who are having trouble finding a job. However, in order to be referred you have to work hard and be very consistent. Since you're not paying anything, it's up to you to make the most of the program.

On the other hand, their upskilling program, Scaler Academy, is a good choice for those who need more than just a quick memory refresher and a couple of mock interviews. If you're serious about taking your coding abilities to the next level, or about learning coding from scratch, this online course is a good option, considering how flexible and well-structured the content is.

All in all, it's neither the cheapest nor the best option in India, but it sure offers plenty of value to international students.

I strongly recommend Tech Interview Pro if you're looking for a proven program that's landed thousands of engineers six-figure jobs at Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Apple, I strongly recommend Tech Interview Pro. With a money-back guarantee and thousands of student success stories, I can't recommend Tech Interview Pro highly enough.