How do you approach a coding problem in an interview?

The interview is a collaboration, not a race to type. A structured approach makes your reasoning visible and gives the interviewer chances to redirect you before you spend time on the wrong solution. Silence is the enemy; narrate the decisions.

A reliable sequence

• Clarify: input types, size, duplicates, ordering, mutation, output format
• Restate: say the problem back in one sentence
• Example: walk through a small case and an edge case
• Plan: name the pattern and justify it with complexity
• Code: write readable code with meaningful names
• Test: trace the example, then try edge cases

function twoSumSorted(values, target) {
  let left = 0;
  let right = values.length - 1;
  while (left < right) {
    const sum = values[left] + values[right];
    if (sum === target) return [left, right];
    if (sum < target) left += 1;
    else right -= 1;
  }
  return [];
}

If you get stuck, reduce the problem. Solve a brute-force version, then look for repeated work or a monotonic property that allows a better pattern. Saying the brute force and its complexity is better than saying nothing.