11–20 of 26 posts
If I'd ever be doing a hiring spree, I'd give them a real problem. Put them in a position to think out loud. Not "what's the answer" but "walk me through how you'd approach this." Probe the reasoning. When they hit a fork, ask why they'd go left instead of right. Ask about tradeoffs they see. The best/real candidates will naturally say "I'd need to know more about X before deciding" because they're actually thinking through it.
IMO acknowledging the lack of information (without coming from a place of uninformed/non-experienced) almost impossible to fake with an overlay. LLMs always have an answer. Good engineers know when they don't.
The best interviews test critical thinking and problem-solving, not recall. AI makes generating solutions easier, but it also makes validating those solutions harder. That validation skill is what _actually_ matters now. Focus on that. "How do you validate that your solution is correct?" is a great next question.
I also don't think it's wrong to say, "I know you're using an AI tool, that's fine, but I'd like you to answer _this_ question without it. I'm trying to determine whether you can validate whether an AI is giving you good information."
But today? The toothpaste is out of the tube, my friend. AI assistants are ubiquitous in 2026. Pretending otherwise isn't a strategy that's going to lead you to success. Instead, it's just filtering out candidates who've adapted to modern tooling. And isn't the ability to adapt to change one of the best qualities of an engineer?
My advice: learn to interview people who use AI well. You'll hire someone who knows how to leverage it effectively, rather than actively selecting against people who do.
(And if you're asking "absurd questions" to catch AI users, you're just wasting everyone's time. Ask real problems and evaluate how they approach solutions, with or without assistance.)
Are you telling them upfront that AI usage is forbidden? If not it's fair game.
Candidates are also not themselves in these scenarios - IRL interviews show that immediately.