In today’s job market, the competition is fierce. Companies are hiring slower, vetting deeper, and asking more technical, behavioral, and problem-solving questions than ever before. For job seekers, especially in the tech space, the preparation phase can be overwhelming.
As someone who’s been on both sides of the hiring table, I wanted to simplify this process — both for myself and others. That’s how the Interview Prep App was born.
But beyond just helping job seekers, I had a second goal: to build a lean, fast, single-page web app that could generate passive income through ad placement. In this blog, I’ll take you through the story behind the tool — how it works, the pain it solves, and the strategy behind turning a simple idea into something useful and monetizable.
💡 The Idea (InterviewPrep app): Where It All Started
During my time coaching startups and developers, one pattern stood out: everyone hates preparing for interviews, but everyone wants to be ready. They just don’t know how to go about it.
I noticed this in:
- Developers looking to switch jobs but unsure what questions would be asked.
- Product managers trying to brush up on behavioral interviews.
- Junior engineers confused about what “system design” questions even meant.
Even worse, there was no single place they could go to paste a job description and get tailored questions instantly. Most tools required creating accounts, subscribing to newsletters, or going through slow, multi-step processes.
So I asked myself: What if I could build a lightweight tool — no login, no friction — that generates smart, relevant questions instantly?
⚙️ How It Works
The Interview Prep App is a one-page tool that does exactly one thing — but does it well.
Here’s the flow:
- You paste in a job description (e.g., “Backend Engineer at Deel”).
- Optionally, you can toggle a switch to generate more technical questions.
- You hit “Generate,” and boom — five (or more) tailored interview questions and model answers are displayed on the screen.
- That’s it. No login. No saving. No nonsense.
Behind the scenes, the app uses the OpenAI API to generate the questions and answers, formatted cleanly and returned as JSON. The interface is built for speed — you get value in under 10 seconds.
It supports:
- Custom number of questions
- Technical or non-technical modes
- Any kind of job: backend, frontend, product, marketing, and more
The beauty is in the simplicity.
🧪 Building It: The Stack and Simplicity
The Interview Prep App was built using a Vue.js frontend, with an API backend running on Node.js.
I didn’t want this to become a full-blown SaaS with accounts, dashboards, and subscriptions (at least not for now). My goal was velocity — ship fast, validate use, and build in public.
Core goals:
- One screen. No routing, no pages, no clutter.
- Fast UX. Load the app, paste the job, hit generate.
- Simple architecture. A frontend that calls an endpoint, which hits OpenAI and returns structured questions.
Here’s why that matters:
- Faster time to market
- Easier to maintain
- Cheaper to host
- Simple UX increases usage
And that meant I could launch within a weekend.
🎯 Who This Tool Is For
When I launched the tool, I had one main user in mind: the serious job seeker. Someone who:
- Is actively applying and needs to practice tailored interview questions
- Doesn’t want to spend 2 hours Googling or watching YouTube prep videos
- Just wants relevant practice right now
But there’s also a secondary audience: coaches, recruiters, and career advisors. They can use the tool to prepare candidates faster, or embed the questions into their coaching workflows.
A few friends who run coding bootcamps have already bookmarked it to help their students.
💰 Monetization Strategy: Ads on a High-Intent Audience
Now here’s where the business side comes in.
While the Interview Prep App is completely free, it attracts a very specific type of user: someone preparing for an interview, likely in tech, likely job hunting — i.e., a high-intent, high-value demographic for advertisers.
Think of the possibilities:
- Tech bootcamps advertising their training
- Resume services offering premium templates
- Job boards or recruitment tools
- AI-based note-taking or career planning apps
- Even companies looking to hire devs
Each visit to the tool presents an opportunity to show relevant ads. Since the app is sticky (users often generate multiple question sets), it has a decent session time — perfect for banner placements or affiliate promotions.
Monetization ideas:
- Google AdSense: Low effort, auto-placed display ads.
- Direct Sponsorships:
- Affiliate links: Promote resume templates or mock interview platforms.
- Email capture for future products: Add an optional email prompt to download a PDF version of the questions.
The cost of running this app is minimal — a few dollars per month on hosting and API credits. So even small ad revenue becomes profit.
📊 Usage and Feedback So Far
Since launching the tool, the response has been great.
- Visitors come from LinkedIn posts, Twitter, and word of mouth.
- Some users have bookmarked it and returned multiple times.
- A few even reached out saying it helped them ace their interviews.
The no-friction design makes it easy to share in Slack groups, WhatsApp chats, or community forums.
I also got feedback from a coach who used the tool to generate questions for their client’s role and used it to run a mock interview session.
That’s when I realized — I hadn’t just built a tool. I had built a utility.
🧭 The Road Ahead for InterviewPrep app
While the tool is live and running, here are some ideas I’m exploring:
- PDF export: Let users download their questions/answers
- Shareable links: Generate a unique link to share with a friend or coach
- Tagging system: Classify questions by topic (system design, SQL, behavioral)
- Job title auto-fill: Suggest sample job descriptions for common roles
- Interview tracking: Let users log questions they’ve practiced
And of course, expanding ad placements intelligently — without ruining the user experience.
👨🏽💻 Why I Recommend Others Try Projects Like This
In an age where everything becomes a full-blown SaaS idea, it’s refreshing to build a tiny but useful tool.
You don’t need:
- 1,000 features
- A complex user system
- Venture capital
Sometimes, all you need is a real problem, a working solution, and a clean interface.
These types of tools:
- Validate ideas fast
- Help you practice shipping
- Teach you how to position a product
- Are perfect for monetizing with ads
And best of all, they serve people.
✨ Final Thoughts
The Interview Prep App might be small, but it serves a big purpose: helping people prepare for one of the most nerve-wracking parts of their careers — the job interview.
If it helps even one person feel confident walking into that meeting, then it’s already succeeded.
And if it generates some passive income through ads while doing that? Even better.
You can try the app here, and if it helps you — share it with a friend.
