Vlad Azarkhin is a Principal/Staff-level software engineer and infrastructure architect with 25+ years of experience spanning distributed systems, infrastructure platforms, performance engineering, and AI-native applications.
He has held senior engineering and architecture roles at Microsoft, Meta, and multiple high-growth startups, and has been on both sides of the technical interview table hundreds of times — as a candidate and as an interviewer at companies ranging from early-stage startups to FAANG-level organizations.
Over the years, he observed a consistent pattern: the candidates who struggled in technical interviews were rarely weak algorithmically. They struggled because they didn't know Python well enough to translate their thinking into clean, fast code under pressure. They knew the algorithm. They just couldn't express it.
This book is his answer to that problem.
About This Project
This book was written with the assistance of AI tools — specifically, large language models were used to help draft, refine, and organize content. The author reviewed, edited, and validated every section, and all code examples were tested for correctness.
The decision to use AI assistance was deliberate and transparent: the goal was to produce a high-quality, focused resource quickly, without compromising accuracy. The author's 25+ years of engineering experience informed every editorial decision — what to include, what to cut, and how to frame concepts for engineers who are already strong programmers.
The result is a book that reflects real interview experience, not academic theory.