Video interviews are now the default first round for most tech roles.

And most developers treat them like an in-person interview — same prep, same approach, just sitting at home instead of an office.

That's leaving real edge on the table.

Video introduces specific friction that in-person interviews don't have. The candidates who understand this friction and eliminate it consistently outperform equally qualified candidates who don't.

Here's what actually matters.

Why Video Is Harder Than In-Person

Video compression reduces your expressiveness. The energy in a room, the warmth of a handshake — none of it survives a codec.

Interviewers on video make stronger snap judgments because they have less signal to work with. What comes through the camera matters more, not less.

There's also a split-attention problem. You're managing your audio, your framing, and your background while simultaneously trying to articulate a clean answer to a system design question.…