📚How I’d Prepare for an IT Interview Before I Even Applied

If you're applying for technical roles, don't prepare for interviews and certifications as two completely separate things.
Use them together.

1️⃣ Start with the role

🔹 roadmap.sh
Pick your path and identify the technologies you actually need.
Data Engineer, DevOps, Cloud, Cybersecurity, Backend, etc.

2️⃣ Find the questions you'll actually face

🔹 IT Interview Questions
It has role-specific collections across Cloud, Data/BI, Cybersecurity, Software/DevOps and many more.

Don't memorize the answers. Use the questions to find what you don't understand.

3️⃣ Go deeper on weak areas
Some of the best free technical material isn't packaged as "interview prep."

🔹 MIT Missing Semester
🔹 Google SRE Books
🔹 Full Stack Deep Learning
🔹 DataTalksClub

These are the kind of resources worth keeping long after the interview.

4️⃣ If the role requires cloud, prepare for the certification side too

This is where certification material becomes useful even if you aren't planning to take the exam.

🔹 Free training & study materials

This is a platform to learn different materials including AWS, Microsoft, CompTIA and other cloud/IT certification resources.

And always keep the official documentation nearby:
AWS
Azure
Google Cloud

5️⃣ If You Need actual certification practice
🔹 Exam practice

Use this specifically when you're preparing for a certification. I wouldn't use it as an interview-question substitute.

For official practice, also check:
🔹 AWS Skill Builder
🔹 Microsoft Learn

6️⃣ The final test
Close everything. Pick 10 questions. Answer them out loud.

Then take one architecture problem and explain:
requirements → architecture → trade-offs → failure scenarios → scaling → cost

If you can't explain your answer without looking something up, you've found what to study next.

Don't collect resources. Build a preparation loop:
Learn → practice → identify gaps → study → explain → repeat.

That's what actually gets you interview-ready.