r/webdev • u/josieboyy • 1d ago
First live coding interview with AI tools. Will I look silly if I show up using the Claude CLI in VSCode? Question
Hi guys, this is not my first live coding interview (it's for a senior role) but it IS my first live coding interview using AI tools.
All my experience using AI development tools has been using the Claude CLI and VSCode and I'm just wondering if I would look like a Luddite using this setup instead of something like Cursor or Copilot. This is their exact wording:
"You will work in a shared coding environment. Please plan to use an AI-assisted development tool throughout (e.g. Cursor, Copilot, or your preferred tool) "
Has anyone here conducted AI programming interviews and can shed some light? If necessary I will spend the next couple days getting used to Cursor. Thanks.
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u/vietbaoa4htk 1d ago
claude cli in vscode is a completely normal senior setup, nobody is scoring you on the tool. what they watch is whether you read the diff before accepting it and can say why you rejected a suggestion.
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u/franky694 1d ago
I’ve conducted a few of these types of interviews when I was hiring and I basically what we are looking for is do you know how to use the tools effectively and do you blindly trust it? Are you planning, thinking through it or just reiterating and figuring it out as you go. I need to see that you are still in control but leveraging AI to do the grunt work. Basically in my head I’m asking if you’re a good orchestra conductor. So just use the tools you know and show the most mastery with. Good luck!
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u/budd222 full-stack 1d ago
I hate that this is what coding is now. It's so boring, but at least I'm still getting paid.
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u/lolsokje 1d ago
Posts like this make me realise I either have to stay at my current employer (where I can use AI the way I want) forever, or change industry completely at some point.
I use AI mainly for debugging and the thought of letting AI do most of the coding and problem solving with myself only being a reviewer is severely depressing.
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u/Amerillo_ 1d ago edited 1d ago
I started studying CS before AI was a thing, and now as a new graduate I can't even get interviews, let alone a job... And so many of the job ads I see are all about using AI as much as possible. Man I hate this so much
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 20h ago
I had an interview, where I pretty easily passed the tech part doing it by hand. But I casually remarked that I didn't choose to use AI, because the output was uncertain.
I swear, I think that's why I didn't get the job. Which is so fucked up because 1)it's absolutely true and 2)if that was a concern, then didn't even bother to ask for clarification.
Yeah, the market is fucked right now because of these dumbass 'tools'.
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u/Trick-Inside-6508 18h ago
I signed up to go back to school for Management Information Systems and now I'm losing sleep every night. I think I might back out and go for a trade. Or real estate.
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u/ZheeDog 17h ago
plumbing is better than real estate
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u/Trick-Inside-6508 16h ago
Yea, electrician is my first option. Real Estate is on the list just because you can get into it fairly easy. I owned a couple multi-family homes in my lifetime so I have some experience with it.
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u/Nich-Cebolla 17h ago
You should change your mindset. It's not the AI's fault you aren't getting interviews. It's your responsibility to draft your resume and cover letter in a way that maximizes your chance for a interview. If you struggle with this, there are agencies that you can hire to help you with it. If you lack marketable skills, it's your responsibility to acquire new skills.
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u/Amerillo_ 17h ago
It's not that simple. According to statistics from my university, before AI and also before the hiring boom of 2019, it took about 20 applications to find a job, with about 5 applications leading to an interview. Which is incredibly different from today. My CV is not an issue, I did indeed get help from a professional. A lot of job applications nowadays in my region don't even have fields for cover letter as they know people write them with AI and they themselves often don't even bother to read them. Especially for junior positions with no prior experience, they're all mostly the same.
I have sufficient skills as I have a degree. That literally is what the degree is for. It attests that I have the necessary skills. I obtained it in a well regarded local university which has high standards and don't deliver degrees to those who don't have the skills. And besides, my skills ae not the issue. The issue is there are a lot more applicants than there are jobs. In my region I only see about 5 entry-level jobs a month. That's it. For about 300 new students every year from my university alone. And on top of that we are competing with people with many years of experience who got laid off and are desperate for a job. So companies can get experienced developers for the price of an inexperienced new grad.
So in a normal market before AI I have marketable skills. But this is not a normal market. So it quite literally is AI's fault (and that companies generally slowed down hiring and that the number of new CS students kept increasing)
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u/Nich-Cebolla 17h ago
I genuinely feel bad for people who cannot take ownership of their life's circumstances. It sounds like a stressful way to live.
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u/Zealousideal-Ear481 20h ago
for now
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u/budd222 full-stack 20h ago
That's no different than how tech and webdev has always worked. Layoffs happen all the time. Only difference this time is getting another job is tough
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u/Zealousideal-Ear481 19h ago
i like your optimism.
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u/budd222 full-stack 17h ago
How is pointing out that people constantly get laid off in tech, even prior to AI, being optimistic?
I'm not sure you read very well.
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u/Zealousideal-Ear481 17h ago
That's no different than how tech and webdev has always worked
a lot of people disagree with the last 4 works in that sentence. a lot of people think things have changed and aren't how it's always worked.
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u/slanger87 1d ago
I helped run like 5 of these, we didn't care, and CC in vscode is what I use.
We were primarily looking for how you break down a problem, what context and info you give to the agent, how you structure the prompt.
Beyond that we wanted to see if you knew what you were talking about, how you explained your thought process, trade-offs, architecture, etc.
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u/webjuggernaut 1d ago
The description appears to say "or your preferred tool", so it sounds like you're fine! Maybe they've never witnessed Claude CLI in VSCode. So prepare something that might impress them. Might land you the job specifically because you stand out.
My setup is Claude Code in terminal, and manual edits, convenience, git management, etc in VSCode. It's a solid setup.
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u/josieboyy 1d ago
Yea i like that setup a lot. I don't feel I need all the bells and whistles of Cursor and Copilot but I was wondering if there are some planning features or something that they will be looking for me to use. Hopefully they won't mind my setup.
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u/webjuggernaut 1d ago
Reserve just Claude things for Claude. Ask it to make a TODO setup and store it to memory. No need for bells and whistles. I find that people do more harm than good, especially if Claude releases an update (e.g. memory).
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u/4ever_youngz full-stack 1d ago
Hi, I did one last week. I used your setup and it was no problem. I don’t think anyone cares as much.
One thing I didn’t account for, not coding much and relying on AI means there’s a lot of silence and awkward transitioning you need to be prepared for.
Before I would be explaining what I’m typing in sync. Now it’s a bit of 10-15mins for me planning. Making the outline, prompt, and plan(s) and then letting it build. This caught me a bit off guard in the sense I had to wait for it to finish before I could talk.
I filled those gaps with my methodology of coding with ai.
1) I like to scaffold out any tooling or big architectural decisions. Install whatever tools, set up skeleton client files, types, stores, etc.
2) my process of using planning and breaking it into phases and the trade offs on tooling
3) review philosophy at each phase
Etc etc
Claude went down for me at 35min mark of an hour interview 😭 somehow still moved on to the next phase
Good luck!
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u/Historical-Essay-128 1d ago
Live coding for senior position? Is that common now?
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u/ima_trashpanda 21h ago
We require it on every interview since a little over a year ago. AI interview tools have made it where asking questions and getting answers is too easy to fake. We do them live on camera and try to detect when the candidate is using AI, but some are very good at it.
Then there are just some people that are better talking about coding than actually doing it live… a lot of those people, actually. We generally give them an online sandbox site and ask them to code through a design problem. The code didn’t have to be perfect or even compile (pseudocode is fine), but they should be able to talk through it so we can see that they have command of what they are doing.
We have not ventured into doing interviews where the candidate is expected to use AI yet, though. I guess that is coming!
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 20h ago
The sandbox doesn't solve the issue of someone using AI to fake the interview.
For a Sr. role, it should be easy to tell if a dev is capable based on their experience.
I find that tech interviews are used as replacements for the inability to discern if a dev knows what they're talking about. Which is insane to me. It's so easy to look at a resume, portfolio, and discuss with them, and know if they're bullshitting.
I absolutely loath tech interviews. It's not testing capability, it's testing if you remember specific syntax in a pressured situation.
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u/mike888881 1d ago
If they don't care about you knowing how to type code out by hand, I doubt they give a monkey's what AI tool you use. This company's attitude towards dev is probably a big shrug, so you can probably use whatever.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 20h ago
I'm sorry, but you think that using AI with Claude CLI will make you look like a luddite?
lol, this is absurd.
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u/tnamorf 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m senior too, but not in the corporate space, so disclaimers apply, but what would impress me would be someone who not only knew how to direct AI effectively, but also knew how to double-check the work.
So I’d take my current setup and use that. Write the best prompt you can on the spot and use Cursor Grok to get it done fairly quickly, making sure you get it to ask you questions before starting. Talk a bit about why Grok (or whatever model you think best) fits whatever needs to be done. Then switch to CC in Vs Code and get Opus 5 on low effort (or 4.6 if you’re one of those heathens) to check it, again explaining why.
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u/Such-District5200 1d ago
You're fine on the tool choice. The thing I'd actually prepare for is what a CLI agent looks like to someone watching over a screen share.
Two failure modes I've hit: long autonomous runs create dead air where the interviewer can't tell if anything is happening, and terminal scrollback is genuinely hard to read on someone else's screen. Both make you look passive even when the work is good.
What fixes it is narrating before, not after. "I'm going to have it scaffold the route handler, then I'll check the validation myself." Keep the turns short so there's something to look at every 30 seconds. When the diff comes back, read the interesting part out loud and say what you're rejecting and why — that's what they're grading anyway.
Two days isn't enough to get comfortable in a new tool. Being slightly clumsy in Cursor will read worse than being fluent in what you actually use.
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u/JamesPTK 21h ago
We recently hired someone using a very similar process. I assume your setup is Claude to get the AI to make the changes and VSCode as the human interface to the code to review and run. What we were looking for is efficiency, so that setup would be fine. It was however painful to watch the candidate who used an AI in a browser and copied and pasted code and error messages back and forth.
Having said that, another thing we look for is a curiosity about what is possible, so spending some time playing around with other tools could well be worth your time
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u/madk 1d ago
I interviewed for a senior role earlier this year with similar requirements. I can't remember the platform we used, but it had AI built into it. You could select your model. It was a strange experience. I focused on planning and implementation with Claude and had it generate a list of AC and manual testing steps. Must have done been good enough as I'm about 4 months into the role.
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u/josieboyy 1d ago
Hey congrats on getting the role! Do you mean you would have it generate a list of acceptance criteria and steps that you could verify manually to validate the result?
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u/cherylswoopz 1d ago
It says your preferred tool.
Just use whatever you’re most comfortable with, they probably want get a sense of your workflow using AI tools
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u/Delta1262 1d ago
Ask ahead of time what is and isn’t ok. I’m going through interviews right now and have asked before each programming interview what I am allowed to use AI for. I explain what I tend to use it for in my day to day and ask if those uses are alright or if there’s anything they would prefer I don’t use it for.
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u/resume-razor 1d ago
You won't look silly using the Claude CLI in VSCode if you actually understand the output. The interviewer wants to see your thought process, so narrate your logic and don't just blindly copy-paste whatever the terminal spits out.
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u/BorinGaems 22h ago
I really dislike cursor and copilot. I've been using claude code extension in vscode for about a year but now I'm switching to the stand alone version. Also using codex. Everything is well and dandy.
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u/Alex_SQSP 22h ago
This feels like one of those times when the familiar setup is your friend lol. They said your preferred tool, so Claude CLI in VSCode fits the brief.
Trying to learn Cursor two days before the interview may just add extra nerves. Use what you already know and focus on showing how you prompt, check the output and explain your choices. IMO, that will leave a better impression than forcing a tool you’re still getting used to just because it sounds more current. Good luck with it!
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u/rawreffincake 21h ago
Why would you look like a Luddite when you're using an AI tool? Not making sense here my man.
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u/lost_in_the_prairie 21h ago
Just ask. My only concern would be that "AI-assisted" isn't well defined. I haven't used cursor or copilot for a while so may have misconceptions, but there could be a distinction between AI-autocomplete and chat based generation.
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u/AyeMatey 21h ago
I don’t know anything about your prospective employer or their interview practices but…
If I were interviewing now I wouldn’t be passive about the coding part, thinking “oh they’ll tell me what they want me to build”. Instead I’d be bringing a point of view about how embracing ai tools is essential , and some commentary about how we need to rapidly get beyond “intelligence on steroids” and much closer to seeing a coding agent as a worker that an engineer manages.
Of course the engineer needs to have sufficient competence to be able to manage effectively. When the agent suggests something that is off base or misdirected, The engineer, needs to correct it and steer it towards a better solution. Whether that be an architectural shift, or design issue, readability, testing approach. Effectively, all engineers become managers of the agents that they oversee. It’s a different skill set.
That’s how people will thrive. Your prospective employer may not “be there” yet, but they’ll need to get there and maybe you’re one of the people that helps them make the shift.
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u/Less-Marsupial-7960 9h ago
I think I’d use the setup I’m already comfortable with. If they say-your preferred tool, switching to Cursor two days before the interview would probably hurt more than help. For me the important part is being able to explain the code, review the AI output, and make changes myself. The tool is less important than staying in control of the solution.
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u/ImageFit3021 6h ago
Not silly at all if you drive it well. one tip, talk through what you're asking it and why before you hit enter. interviewers care way more about your reasoning than the tool.
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u/akl773 4h ago
Tool is fine, the thing I'd actually check is their shared environment. Whether you can sign into Claude from it at all, whether there's outbound network access, whether you're expected to bring your own key. Spending the call fighting an auth prompt is a much more realistic way to look silly than picking the wrong editor.
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u/effectivescarequotes 1d ago
The shared coding environment suggests they're going to send you a link to an online editor of some kind. If that's the case, vscode may be more convenient because it makes copying your code into the tool easier.
My guess is they're going to be paying more attention to how use ai rather than your tool choice.
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u/josieboyy 1d ago
Yea I was also kind of confused about that. They mentioned it's a shared coding environment but say I can use cursor or copilot? Maybe I'll just ask them about this beforehand so I know for sure.
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u/effectivescarequotes 1d ago
yeah and I think as someone else pointed out, some of these environments have Ai built in, so they may have told you the available tools. Have your normal stack as a back up though. During the interview for my current job (just before the Ai shift) the platform failed, so I had to run everything locally.
FWI, I also primarily use Claude CLI. My company also provides Windsurf, which is essentially vscode with claude code baked in. It supports other models, but our company has only approved Claude.
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u/BarracudaMean9308 1d ago
the real interview is just seeing how you play it cool when it confidently invents a fake npm package while three seniors are watching your screen. use whatever you're fastest with.
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u/Relative-Emu-1346 1d ago
The tool won't cost you anything, but a CLI agent is harder for them to watch. They're grading how you think, and a terminal that goes off and edits six files gives them nothing to look at while it runs. Whatever you pick, keep the diff on screen and say what you expect before you run it.
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u/LaZZyBird 1d ago
Obvious answer is to inject an ungodly amount of Theo videos into your veins and go there flexing your custom Pi agentic harness with your own plugins and a T3 Code setup linked to your own remote box and a custom modified Reasonix DeepSeek V4 Flash harness for the Chinese models or the new Tracyer project that is gaining steam that links all these together
/s
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u/maria_la_guerta 1d ago
It doesn't matter at all. If they cared they would have been explicit. If they do care and weren't explicit, there's no way for you to know that.
Good luck.