The coding interview needs to die

The coding interview as we know it needs to die, but no one at the table knew what replaces it.

At a dinner we hosted with engineers from Anthropic, OpenAI, TogetherAI, Apple, and other startups this was the most contentious topic: how do you review engineering as a craft when AI writes the code?

Some basics are now even more important like:

• First-principles thinking, like asking why before reaching for a new pattern or tool. Most engineering rot comes from reaching for the easy solution.
• Good vibes, is this person fun to work with, do they deal with pressure well etc.

And some basics don’t make as much sense any more… coding agents are ridiculously good at data structures and algorithms for instance.

My favorite answers were very old school.

• We debated the rise of apprenticeships, contract-to-hire because the best interview is just getting the work done and showing up. Doesn’t scale but it’s the only signal people fully trusted.
• The other big one was the rise in personal networks and referrals as the only trusted signal for both parties in a sea of noise.

Other threads from the conversation: Application volume is up 3-5x, mostly AI-generated. Reviewing them is still painfully manual. On models: open source is quietly winning. The commercial model headlines drown out real progress happening in fine-tuning and specialized use cases.

These dinners are one of my favorite things we do, small room discussions, no BS, engineers only. More to come!