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A hiring manager at Anthropic said their team stopped asking software engineering candidates coding questions after concluding that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews gave it no useful signal. The report concerns that team’s process, not a company-wide policy; Anthropic has not been described as ending coding interviews across the business.
A team at Anthropic has stopped asking software engineering candidates coding questions after concluding that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews gave it no useful hiring signal, according to The Pragmatic Engineer. The account comes from a hiring manager who has led work on Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop; it describes that team’s approach, not a confirmed change to hiring across Anthropic.
The hiring manager’s account was shared in a blog post by Felix Rieseberg, as cited by The Pragmatic Engineer’s technology newsletter, The Pulse. The report says the team removed coding questions from its engineering recruitment process because it found the interviews did not help distinguish candidates. The source does not provide the team’s interview rubric, the number of candidates assessed, or evidence comparing interview performance with later job performance.
The report frames the change as a decision by one Anthropic team, rather than a company-wide policy. It suggests other teams at the company or other AI-focused startups could adopt similar practices, but that is a possibility, not a reported decision. No broader implementation, formal announcement from Anthropic, or change to other stages of the hiring process is specified.
The development appeared in a wider roundup that also covered AI spending and workplace policies at other technology companies. Those items are separate from Anthropic’s interview decision. The central claim here is narrower: this team concluded that a familiar technical screening format did not provide useful evidence for its hiring decisions.
A Shift in Engineering Screening
The decision matters because coding interviews are a common way for technology employers to assess software engineering candidates. If a team finds that data-structures-and-algorithms questions do not help it identify strong hires, removing them could change what candidates prepare for and what interviewers prioritize. The report, however, does not establish that the format is ineffective for all employers or roles.
For candidates, the immediate practical implication is limited: applicants to the team described may no longer face coding questions, but the source does not say what assessments replaced them. The account also leaves open whether candidates are evaluated through work samples, discussions of past projects, system design, or other methods. Those details matter for judging how the team measures engineering ability without the coding screen.
For employers, the report offers a signal about how one team is reconsidering a standard hiring practice. It does not show that the team’s new process produces better hires, reduces bias, or speeds recruitment. Those outcomes would require evidence beyond the reported decision and its stated reason.
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The Scope of Anthropic’s Change
The Pragmatic Engineer describes The Pulse as a roundup of events and trends in technology companies. In this edition, its Anthropic item focuses on a hiring manager’s account of changing interview practice. The report identifies Rieseberg as a manager who has led Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop, but does not name the specific team or give a date for the policy change.
That distinction is important: a team-level hiring decision is not the same as an organization-wide rule. Anthropic has not, in the supplied report, announced that it has ended coding interviews for all software engineering roles. Nor does the account say that all technical evaluation has been removed. It reports that the team stopped asking coding questions, specifically citing data-structures-and-algorithms interviews as producing no useful signal.
“A team at the leading frontier AI company gets zero signal from DSA interviews and so has removed it from the engineering recruitment process.”
— The Pragmatic Engineer, summarizing the Anthropic team’s decision
What the Report Does Not Establish
The available account does not identify when the change took effect, how many candidates or roles it covers, or whether Anthropic has approved a wider policy. It also does not explain what assessments replaced coding questions or provide data showing that the new approach predicts job performance better.
The phrase “zero signal” is the team’s reported assessment of its interviews. The source supplies no methodology, sample size, or outcome data to independently evaluate that conclusion. It is also unclear whether the team still uses other technical exercises, asks candidates to discuss code, or applies different evaluations for different engineering roles.
Whether Other Teams Follow
The next meaningful developments would be clarification from Anthropic about the scope of the change and details from the team about how it evaluates candidates instead. The report does not give a timeline for either. It also does not confirm that other Anthropic groups or AI-native startups are considering the same step.
For now, the confirmed news remains a team-level change reported by The Pragmatic Engineer, with the hiring manager’s stated reason that the coding questions provided no useful signal. Whether that decision spreads, and whether a replacement assessment proves more useful, remains to be seen.
Key Questions
Did Anthropic end coding interviews across the company?
No such company-wide change is confirmed. The report describes one team’s hiring process, based on an account from a hiring manager.
Why did the team stop asking coding questions?
The team reportedly found that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews provided no useful hiring signal. The source does not publish supporting data or a detailed evaluation method.
What will replace coding questions?
The report does not say. It gives no details about whether the team uses project discussions, work samples, system-design interviews, or another assessment.
When did Anthropic make the change?
The supplied report does not specify a date for the change. It reports that the team has stopped asking coding questions, but the timing is unclear.
Source: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
