Key Takeaways
- On October 27, 2026, Anthropic hiring manager Felix Rieseberg wrote that he "laid the traditional coding interview to rest" this month and stopped asking candidates to do them.
- It's one manager's decision, not a company policy. Anthropic's candidate guidance, last updated July 10, 2025, still says live interviews are "all you", with no AI assistance unless the company says otherwise.
- Instead of a coding test, Rieseberg says he scans résumés and portfolios for small prototypes that show "taste, empathy, and principled thinking."
- Tech employers as a group aren't dropping tests. ZipRecruiter told The Register on October 28, 2026 that 62.5% of Information-sector employers in its October survey require formal skill tests, and 70% have moved to proctored or in-person assessments to deter AI cheating.
- So prepare for both formats: a portfolio of finished prototypes for teams like Rieseberg's, and unassisted coding for the larger share of employers that still test.
The Anthropic coding interview, at least on one team, is gone. Felix Rieseberg, a hiring manager at Anthropic, wrote on October 27, 2026 that he has stopped giving candidates coding interviews, because Claude now does those small exercises better than the people taking them. His post doesn't change Anthropic's company-wide rules, and the wider employer data points the other way. Here's what changed, what didn't, and how to prepare.
What happened
Rieseberg published "Hunger beats tenure: Advice for junior engineers" on his blog on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. It opens: "This month, I laid the traditional coding interview to rest. As a hiring manager at Anthropic, I stopped asking candidates to do them." The Register covered the post on October 28 and added employer-survey data from ZipRecruiter.
Why the Anthropic coding interview stopped working on his team
Rieseberg's argument is about signal. He says small coding challenges in real code used to tell him something about candidates. Now an AI model does them better, so passing one says little about the person. He also says the test didn't predict who did well: "Our most impactful builders are successful regardless of how good they are at these tests."
He doesn't think the format is coming back.
"I don't think the coding interview is going to come back." — Felix Rieseberg, October 27, 2026
He's also candid that he doesn't have a full replacement yet: "I'm probably not the only manager trying to figure out how to interview for people who build well with AI." For now, he says, "I'm scanning resumes and portfolios for little prototypes that exhibit taste, empathy, and principled thinking."
What he's actually looking for
Most of the post is advice for junior engineers, and it's "really for engineers without social capital, status, or power." His five steps read like a hiring rubric:
- Tie your work to what your company or team is trying to achieve.
- Pick one bold idea that could move that goal.
- Build a working prototype over a weekend instead of writing a requirements document.
- Keep the prototype to a single strong idea so leaders can grasp it fast.
- Use your outsider's view: empathy for users, and not knowing why things are "impossible."
His example is a graphical interface for Claude Code. People at Anthropic were so used to Claude Code as a command-line tool that it took two relatively new engineers to build a working prototype of one, over a weekend. "The first public version shipped roughly eight days later." His point: "Execution isn't expensive anymore."
What hasn't changed at Anthropic
This is one hiring manager's process. Anthropic's official page, "How to collaborate with Claude during our hiring process", was last updated July 10, 2025 and still sets these rules:
| Stage | Anthropic's official rule |
|---|---|
| Application | Write your first draft yourself, then use Claude to refine it |
| Take-home assessment | "Complete these without Claude unless we indicate otherwise" |
| Interview prep | Use Claude to research Anthropic and practice answers |
| Live interview | "This is all you–no AI assistance unless we indicate otherwise" |
If you're interviewing at Anthropic, you might still get a coding round on another team. Ask your recruiter which format your loop uses.
The numbers behind it
Going by the employer data, Rieseberg's move is unusual. Nicole Bachaud, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, told The Register: "We are not seeing tech companies abandon skills assessments widely across the industry—at least not yet." She cited ZipRecruiter's October 2026 Employer Survey of 1,500 employers. In the Information sector, which covers tech, 62.5% of employers require formal skill tests on initial applications, the highest of any sector. And 70% have moved to proctored or in-person assessments to deter AI cheating. And 61.5% named critical thinking as a primary skill missing from today's candidates.
ZipRecruiter's own published New Hires Survey for Q2 2026 shows the other side. 21% of recent hires were encouraged to use AI in their interview process, and 11% were explicitly required to demonstrate proficiency with AI in an interview or technical skills assessment. That survey covers all sectors, not only tech.
Bachaud's summary: "Ultimately, tech companies aren't necessarily testing less, but the way they are testing is changing."
Limits of the data
- ZipRecruiter hasn't published the October 2026 Employer Survey yet. The 62.5%, 70% and 61.5% figures come from what the company told The Register.
- "Information sector" is broader than software engineering. It includes publishing, media and telecom.
- The two surveys measure different groups (employers versus new hires), so don't compare their percentages directly.
Three directions at once
The chart at the top shows how far apart big AI employers are. Google is letting candidates use Gemini in a "code comprehension" round and grading their AI fluency. In May 2026 it was a pilot for early- and mid-career roles on select US teams, Entrepreneur reported, citing Business Insider. Internal documents Business Insider reviewed on October 20, 2026 show it spreading across the company, though a spokesperson still called it a pilot, Tech Times reported. Meta confirmed in July 2025 that it was testing AI tools for candidates in coding interviews. Rieseberg went furthest of all and dropped the coding round. Most employers, going by the ZipRecruiter numbers, are tightening their tests.
Not everyone agrees on what should replace the coding round. Google principal engineer Jaana Dogan replied that she'd rather "interview how people use coding agents," since that tells her more about a candidate's coding skills.
What this means for you
If you're job hunting
- Build one small, finished prototype tied to a real problem. Rieseberg's advice is a single strong idea, built fast, aimed at a business goal. Put it where a hiring manager can find it: the top of your résumé or a pinned repo with a short README.
- Be ready to explain how you work with a coding agent. That's the shared thread in Google's round, Meta's test and Dogan's comment. Practice narrating how you prompt, check the output and fix what's wrong.
- Keep practicing coding without AI. Most tech employers ZipRecruiter surveyed still require skill tests, and 70% have moved them to proctored or in-person settings.
- Ask each recruiter what the AI rules are, round by round. Even at Anthropic, the answer depends on the team.
If you interview candidates
- Check whether your coding round still predicts performance on your team. Rieseberg's reason for dropping his was that it didn't.
- If you keep a coding round, write down the AI rules for it and tell candidates in advance, as Anthropic's guidance does.
How this connects
Our pillar guide, Coding Interviews in the Age of AI: What Changed, covers the AI-assisted formats at Meta and Google and how to prepare for each. What's new this week is a third option, no coding round at all, coming from inside an AI lab. It fits what Anthropic disclosed two days earlier: its S-1 filing says Claude wrote most of the company's code contributions in September 2026.
If a team asks for a prototype instead of a live test, the skills from a take-home coding assignment carry over: scope it tightly, make it easy to run, and be ready to defend every choice. For a week-by-week plan that covers both formats, see How to Prepare for a Software Engineering Interview. The coding fundamentals that proctored rounds still test are what Mastering the Tech Interview is built around.
FAQ
Did Anthropic stop doing coding interviews?
Not company-wide. Felix Rieseberg, one hiring manager at Anthropic, wrote on October 27, 2026 that he stopped giving coding interviews this month. Anthropic's official candidate guidance, last updated July 10, 2025, still describes live interviews and take-homes done without AI unless the company says otherwise.
Can you use Claude in an Anthropic interview?
Only when Anthropic tells you so. Its guidance says take-home assessments should be completed "without Claude unless we indicate otherwise," and live interviews are "all you." You can use Claude to prepare: researching the company and practicing answers.
Are other tech companies dropping coding interviews?
Not widely. ZipRecruiter told The Register that 62.5% of Information-sector employers in its October 2026 survey require formal skill tests, and 70% have moved to proctored or in-person assessments. Google and Meta are changing the coding round to include AI assistance, not removing it.
What should I put in a portfolio instead of practicing LeetCode?
Do both. For managers like Rieseberg, show a small, finished prototype that solves one real problem and shows "taste, empathy, and principled thinking." For the majority of employers that still test, keep practicing unassisted coding.
Further Reading
- Felix Rieseberg, "Hunger beats tenure: Advice for junior engineers": the original post, October 27, 2026.
- Anthropic, "How to collaborate with Claude during our hiring process": the official candidate AI policy.
- The Register, "Anthropic engineer declares the coding interview dead": coverage with ZipRecruiter survey data, October 28, 2026.
- ZipRecruiter, New Hires Survey 2026 Q2: AI use in recent hiring processes.
