Ask HN: What do your technical interviews look like today? (Nov 2026)

General callout to ask about the state of the standard (if there is even such a thing) of SWE technical interview. Also rough headcount to provide context if able :)

We may be past the point of leetcode challenges, but now different companies have different levels of acceptance for AI assistance.

One data point talked about technical interviews where a candidate was interrupted and asked to lean on the LLM more.

Some companies have shied away from AI and any indication or disclosure of AI assistance is a red flag.

Other companies continue to test coding abiltiy as a baseline expectation and do allow LLMs purely for boilerplate or autocomplete.

Follow up: does your company's AI guidelines for interview candidates align with the guidelines for employees?

6 points | by Heap4112 13 hours ago

5 comments

  • domelian 7 hours ago
    For a work sample, I’d leave one requirement a little ambiguous and tell the candidate they can ask questions. During my AiSDR (it's YC S23) interview, I was allowed to search and ask for clarification. I initially thought that was a trap. I once wrote about finding out what the CTO was looking for (https://domelian.substack.com/p/1000-days-at-yc-company): what I did when I got stuck, and whether we could think through the problem together. I’d make that permission explicit, especially if candidates are also allowed to use AI.
  • anilgulecha 13 hours ago
    It's in a flux, and no standard has emerged. The closest I'm observing across companies I work with is customized work-sample.

    "If you can't do standardized, then just have them work on your codebase to see if they can grok it."

  • Theophane_Rame 37 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • Charlotte_P 5 hours ago
    [dead]
  • austin-cheney 12 hours ago
    Pretty much the same as always. I am an ancient JavaScript guy, so most of the interviews comprise opinions about subjects for young people with limited experience that I find to be absolutely unnecessary. That goes about as well as it sounds.