Rethinking Tech Hiring: Moving Beyond Leetcode Interviews
Tech hiring really needs a reality check. It’s funny — companies act shocked when their broken hiring practices get called out online, yet the way we conduct tech interviews today is seriously flawed. The whole Leetcode-style interview thing? It simply isn’t a good way to measure someone’s skills.
Why? These interviews often reward candidates who can grind through endless algorithm problems, but that’s not what being a great engineer is all about. Sure, solving coding challenges can be fun, but memorizing a solution for a weird graph problem doesn’t tell you whether someone can collaborate effectively, design robust software, or tackle the kinds of challenges they’ll face on the job.
Speaking from my experience as a Software Developer and Data Scientist, those live coding tests during interviews don’t really reflect how we work in the real world. At work, we take time to think through problems, iterate on our solutions, and use a variety of tools — including AI — to get the job done. That’s why many companies are shifting toward take-home projects. These projects let candidates work independently and at their own pace, giving them a chance to show how they research, debug, and build solutions rather than simply regurgitating algorithms under pressure.
Now, look — I’m not saying cheating is okay, but let’s be honest: if your interview questions are truly predictive of work performance, and if AI is already a tool engineers use every day, why should candidates be penalized for using AI during interviews? I recently came across a tool called Interview Coder that solves coding problems in the background during live interviews. Some might label it “cheating,” but I see it as a natural response to an outdated system. If companies are using AI to boost productivity on the job, then why not let candidates do the same? The goal is to understand how a person solves problems — so why not include modern tools in that process?
Ultimately, companies need to stop relying on these broken Leetcode-style interviews. Instead, they should focus on evaluating the real-world skills that matter: the ability to design APIs, optimize databases, manage concurrency, and collaborate effectively. Hire based on what candidates can actually do, not just how quickly they can solve a random computer science problem. And yes, using AI should be part of the equation — it’s a tool like any other, and it’s here to stay. If your hiring process is filtering out great engineers, that’s a failing of the system, not the candidates.
Tech interviews should reflect how engineers truly work today. The future of software development is all about leveraging every tool at our disposal — including AI — to build better products. If your hiring process isn’t aligned with that reality, it might be time for a serious rethink.
