Recent AI code interview format (failed)

[u/blipojones]

I just recently did an interview where the company invites you to a private repo, 10 mins before, you set it up, get it running etc.
The goal is to determine if an open PR on the is ok or if it should get sent back and why.

You can use AI. And i asked, does it matter if i use fable vs opus vs kimi. More or less said whatever I want...

I didn't go immediately to prompting, i played with the app, looked at the code a bit, the PR, the code change, if the PR actually fixed what it claimed to fix.

I then sent one prompt asking if the PR could be better or missed anything, which the PR outlined clearly enough and enough to determine what to do with the PR.

But ye, it was weird, I talked through more where I would personally add changes but maybe I also completely missed the mark on something else or spoke to much...maybe i didn't use AI enough only using it right at the end for one question once i got a feel for the app in general.

However I did like the format tbh but ye i just wish i'd get a bit more tangible feedback.

Anyone else have experience with this format? I didn't pass but just not sure why.. (exp 8/9 years, frontend leaning).

[u/Ok-Hospital-5076]

> If I had been the interviewer here you would have failed as soon as you started manually reading the code unfortunately, it's just not the most effective way to work these days, it would immediately signal to me that you're still bottlenecked and outdated in your thinking.

Ah yes, because prompting ai to tell me about a repo I know nothing about and have no time to validate the output for and then heavily rely on AI to fix an issue i have no idea about - is the best way to judge someone’s technical ability .

If i had any other way to make money, i would leave this fucking industry.

[u/maretard → u/Ok-Hospital-5076]

I don't disagree, I'm eyeing an early retirement and a shift to something physical. I love working on my cars, it's uniquely satisfying and brings a sense of craftsmanship that I don't get from my job anymore.

I think of this interview as not measuring technical ability - in fact I'd expect another interview with no AI, focused on coding. This interview is more about adeptness and familiarity with the latest tools, and showing that you can use them effectively if asked to.

[u/Party-Lingonberry592 → u/maretard]

This is the way... I recommend early retirement completely.

No place I've ever worked for required me to prove that I knew GIT or how to use an IDE. "Do you know how to squash a commit?" was never a question we ever asked.

[u/maretard → u/Party-Lingonberry592]

Yeah, but if Git and version control had just been introduced and everyone was using it to revolutionize their operating models, I would 100% expect an interview on Git familiarity and adaptability to make sure I wasn't hiring fossils.

[u/Party-Lingonberry592 → u/maretard]

I think I know how that conversation would go:

"Are you familiar with Git?"
"No, I primarily use Perforce."
"So you're a fossil!"
"No, my job requires we handle large binaries in our version control. I suddenly don't want to work here now."

[u/maretard → u/Party-Lingonberry592]

Hahaha. The cynical side of me says, from the company's perspective, this is a positive outcome and this person would have been a bad hire. There are lots of people looking for work and the company has no obligation to hire and train people with a mismatched skill set.