Physical whiteboard interviews coming back due to ChatGPT/Copilot/LLM?

Question

During the COVID pandemic, all the tech company coding interviews switched from physical whiteboarding to coderpad interviews, where you typed code (and in many cases, ran it in the coderpad as well). This was probably a primary contribution to the Great Resignation and accompanying sharp increases in FAANG hiring and salaries during the pandemic.However, with ChatGPT, Copilot, and other LLMs, it becomes much easier to cheat on these interviews. No longer does a potential cheater have to find a ghost-coder to provide answers live - they just need to type in answers into a LLM and wait for it to generate some plausible code. While LLMs will probably not let someone pass who can't code at all (unless they just use straight LeetCode, in which case those interviewers get what they deserve), it will make it much easier to come up with a first draft and iterate, and therefore make the interview much easier, even for experienced interviewees.I wonder if, as a result, companies will start requiring in-person interviews for the final interview round again. I've already heard suggestions that college classes that want to test the essay-writing abilities of their students move back to bluebooks in a proctored exam hall, rather than allowing students to take tests remotely. To be clear, I haven't heard of tech companies moving away from pure-remote interviews, but perhaps with the hiring rate slowing down, the vulnerability of remote interviews to cheating via LLMs will cause them to be deprecated.

austin-cheney · Accepted Answer

Many interviews center on &ldquo;can they write code in some some trendy style&rdquo;. It&rsquo;s some combination of basic literacy and fashion. Employers are clearly looking to commoditize programming in these cases and are willing to burn money doing it, because it seems a large portion of corporate developers cannot write original software. Worse, that is easy to fake by asking AI basic literacy questions.If employers really wanted to hire people who can actually write software interviews would be a conversation stepping through a process to solve a complex problem. Examples of complex problem spaces: Performance, Accessibility, Security, Transmission Control.From the perspective of the candidate the quality of questions and candidate filtering indicate whether the employer is just trying to put bodies in seats, jockey configurations, or advanced copy/paste. Writing original software isn&rsquo;t that hard, but it does take practice most employers won&rsquo;t provide.

siva7 · Answer

I don't think so. At least at very senior levels it's not anymore about solving fizz buzz and answering basic design patterns but communicating your past experiences and getting in deep detail about the how and why. That's not something you can ask a bot while holding a natural conversation in real time with an expert who will poke deeper and deeper.

shortoncash · Answer

I hope so. I used to crush whiteboards but I really dislike these modern quiz platforms. I suppose I just need practice, but I'm like this old guy now with less time to practice on modern quiz platforms.Bring back pure whiteboard and I will be almost as good at this stuff as I was when I was 22. Little slower on the recall, but still good.

roland35 · Answer

I doubt it. A huge part of a coding interview is based around communication and general knowledge that you can demonstrate to the interviewer.If colleges are unable to detect AI-written essays then they have bigger problems. LLMs have no concept of anything other than a probability of what words and phrases go together (which is why it can be so confidently incorrect).

rvz · Answer

Certainly. The cover letter will be obsolete and so will interview platforms like Codility, Hackerrank and Coderbyte. It will be all on site and whiteboard interviews will be widely used than ever before.To be honest, it was inevitable.

tkiolp4 · Answer

On-site is incompatible with remote companies.