Recently, we helped a candidate successfully pass their first technical interview with Atlassian. The problem wasn’t hard to understand, but it required strong attention to implementation details, clean code structure, and fluent communication. Most importantly: the ability to clearly explain your logic during the interview. That’s where many people struggle—and exactly where CSOAHELP gives you an edge. We don’t help you cheat. We help you perform like your best self, with just-in-time support that feels like a tactical advantage.

This article walks you through the actual interview experience and shows how our real-time remote interview support helped the candidate pass confidently.

This was a technical round for Atlassian. The main challenge was a game simulation problem. Here was the question:

"20 by 20 game, have a snake of starting length 3, the snake can move up down left or right and every 5 moves the snake will grow by size 1. Game ends if the snake hits itself. Head of snake starts at width = 10, height = 10."

At first glance, this seems like a light simulation. But the real challenge wasn’t solving it—it was solving it quickly, clearly, and in a way that met the interviewer’s expectations. There was no need for graphical output—just a clean, structured implementation with smart class/method organization.

One day before the interview, the candidate sent us the problem description and their initial thoughts. Based on their tech stack (Python) and interview pacing, we prepared a full code sketch, talking points, and had our live support team ready.

On interview day, the candidate followed our suggestion and opened with a few key questions: “Do I need to print the game state?” and “How should the snake be controlled—user input or automated?” These might seem like basic clarifications, but they show the interviewer that you're thinking about real-world requirements.

Using our silent remote support interface, we had already sent over these suggested questions. The candidate simply echoed them, sounding thoughtful and well-prepared. The interviewer nodded and said, “Good questions.”

Then the coding began. As soon as the interviewer said "go," we sent over the definition for a Direction enum. The candidate copied it directly:

As prompted, the candidate explained, "Using an enum helps organize directions cleanly, and makes it easier to expand later." The interviewer nodded in approval.

Next, we pushed the basic class setup for the Snake game, covering grid size, snake tracking, and direction state:

We also suggested a quick talking point: “Python’s list structure works great here—it lets me easily insert at the front and remove from the tail, which suits snake movement.” The interviewer marked “good use of list structure” in the shared doc.

When it came time to implement move_snake, things got tougher. The interviewer fired off several follow-ups:

“What happens if the snake hits itself?”

“How do you handle wall collisions?”

“Where is the logic to grow the snake every 5 moves?”

“Can you optimize collision checks?”

For each of these, we fed structured, concise answer drafts through the remote system. The candidate repeated them naturally: “I check whether the new head is already in the snake list to detect self-collision. For walls, I wrap around using modulo to avoid edge conditions. I grow the snake on every fifth move by skipping the tail removal. For performance, I can use a set instead of a list for faster lookups.”

Then we provided the next complete code block to type out:

At the end, the interviewer added a bonus challenge: “Can you add a method to print the game state—maybe show the snake’s position on the grid?”

We instantly pushed a tip: “Create a 20x20 matrix, mark snake positions, and print it using simple characters.” The candidate said it word-for-word, wrote the helper function, and the interviewer smiled: “That’s pretty solid for a real-world simulation.”

We had also predicted that most people wouldn’t bother writing test cases. But this candidate had our prewritten test utility ready:

He ran multiple test directions, demonstrated movement, and even ended the game with a deliberate self-collision—showing full control of logic, input, and edge cases. This wasn’t just "working code." It was professional, tested, and narratable.

You might think passing interviews is about grinding problems. But in reality, it's about being able to think, speak, and build under pressure. That’s where CSOAHELP makes the difference.

Our real-time remote interview support means you're never alone when it matters most. We won’t write the interview for you. But we’ll guide you, remind you, and help you look your absolute best.

For your next big interview, do you want to go in alone—or bring a team that knows tech, knows hiring, and knows exactly how to help you win?

We’re here. Let’s talk.