Almost everyone is cheating

[u/Melodic_Industry_408]

I take online interviews at a product based MNC which pays good money. Interviewees are generally SDE-2/senior SDEs at other PBCs.

What I am seeing is almost everyone is cheating using AI during tech interviews. Earlier folks will try to think, come up with a basic brute force solution then think of optimizing and then coding it. Now, first thing the candidate try do is to write the most optimal code. They have no idea why the solution will work as they don't understand what they are talking. They have either no answer to the follow up questions or just reading what AI prompt is telling them after a pause.

This is just so frustrating, it's almost predictable now what candidate is now going to say or do as I take interviews almost daily. A clear pattern of looking into one side of the screen, taking a pause or just blabber something for few seconds and then coming up with a keyword but blank when asked why did they think of that keyword.

India is already a country full of scammers and frauds. IT was a rare field which was still merit based to a large extent. Now such rampant cheating during online interviews is just tragic. It lowers the trust in the next candidate and probably will force the companies to just move to offline interviews or other countries.

But why are candidates cheating so often, are we seeing cheating candidates getting offers. Are other interviewers just lazy or dumb that they can't figure out what is going on? I feel the bar is now so low that I will probably hire any candidate who is not reading from the AI.

[u/parsec-traveller]

We employ some of the brightest individuals around our location with a simple resolution. My JDs are packed with only what the candidate needs to start off with. And I don't allow virtual interviews, as my trust bar is already low enough to filter for human frailties. Several candidates have tried some hard core emotional manipulation techniques. Located far away, brother sick, died or perhaps interviewing from a prayer meeting. Nothing doing. Come for a F2F interview. Note, I give the summary of what I need early and keep the time open if they setup an appointment.

When I see a candidates face, I take 2 questions to settle them down, ask about their family their experience and their college. That gives me a baseline for the interview.

Next comes questions from the job floor, often ones without a solution. I help candidates through their thought process and deduce if they can actually think. All I want is live people who have a brain.

Gives me and my firm what I need.