Anthropic engineer declares the coding interview dead

Anthropic engineering manager Felix Rieseberg has stopped using traditional coding interviews for his team, declaring the coding interview dead in his opinion. Rieseberg explains that AI models like Claude now match or surpass human performance in coding tasks, making old-fashioned coding challenges less useful in predicting a candidate's success.

He believes that small coding challenges in real code still provide valuable insights, but overall, he no longer sees the point in giving candidates arbitrary programming exercises. Google's principal engineer Jaana Dogan echoes Rieseberg's sentiment, stating that she is interested in interviewing candidates on their usage of coding agents, as this provides more insight into their coding skills.

While some tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook are reevaluating their coding interview processes in light of AI advancements, many others are still heavily relying on these assessments. A survey by ZipRecruiter suggests that the tech industry, specifically the Information sector, is the most likely to test for skills, with 62.5% of employers requiring formal skill tests on initial applications.

However, technical interviews are not solely about technical mastery; they also reveal other valuable qualities like creativity and social skills. As AI becomes capable of writing code better than humans, tech employers may shift their focus towards evaluating human-centric soft skills. Rieseberg acknowledges that the coding interview might not return, but he is still exploring new ways to assess candidates who build well with AI, such as looking for prototypes that demonstrate taste, empathy, and principled thinking.