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A hiring manager at Anthropic said their team no longer asks software engineering candidates coding questions based on data structures and algorithms (DSA), after concluding the interviews gave it no useful signal. The report describes a decision by one team, not a company-wide hiring policy; whether Anthropic or other AI companies will adopt the approach remains unclear.
A hiring manager at Anthropic said their team has stopped asking software engineering candidates data-structures-and-algorithms coding questions, concluding the interviews provided no useful signal about whom to hire. The change applies to the manager’s team, which has led work on Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop; the report does not establish that Anthropic has changed its company-wide recruitment process.
The account comes from Felix Rieseberg’s blog post, cited by The Pragmatic Engineer in its technology-industry newsletter, The Pulse. Rieseberg is described as a hiring manager at Anthropic who has led Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop. He said the team had stopped asking coding questions to candidates for software engineering roles. The report characterizes the removed questions as DSA interviews and says the team found they produced zero signal.
That wording is the team’s assessment, not an independently measured result reported with hiring data. The supplied report does not give the number of interviews reviewed, explain how the team evaluated whether questions were predictive, or specify when the change took effect. It also does not describe what interview exercises or assessment methods replaced the coding questions.
The Pulse presents the decision alongside other developments in technology-company hiring and AI use. Its wording says the rest of Anthropic and other AI-native startups could follow, framing that as a possibility rather than a confirmed plan. No company-wide announcement or response from Anthropic is included in the source material.
A Team Rethinks Engineering Interviews
The decision matters because it challenges a familiar way of screening software engineers: asking candidates to solve algorithmic problems under interview conditions. If a team finds those exercises do not help distinguish candidates, removing them could change how it allocates interview time and what skills it tries to assess. The account does not establish that DSA interviews are ineffective across employers; it reports one team’s judgment about its own process.
The choice also sits within a broader discussion of how AI tools affect engineering work and hiring. The Pulse reports the team’s decision in a sector where companies are reassessing software development practices. But the source does not say AI tools caused the change, or that Anthropic has replaced coding interviews with an assessment of AI-assisted work. Those points remain open rather than established explanations.
For candidates, the practical impact depends on the scope of the change. Someone interviewing with this team may face a different process, but the report offers no basis for assuming all Anthropic engineering applicants—or applicants to other AI companies—will no longer encounter coding questions.
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What The Report Establishes
The source is a short item in The Pragmatic Engineer’s The Pulse, a series covering developments in Big Tech and startups. Its central hiring item relies on Rieseberg’s blog post. The material supplied here does not include the full post, interview guidelines, or an official Anthropic statement, so the reported account should be read at the level it supports: one hiring manager’s team stopped asking these questions.
The newsletter places the item among several separate company developments, including incident.io’s reported reduction in AI spending, Amazon’s incorporation of AI use into software engineer and manager expectations, and Microsoft exit offers. Those items are not evidence for why Anthropic changed its interview process. The relevant point is narrower: the report identifies a team-level change and suggests others could adopt it, without confirming that broader shift.
Scope And Replacement Remain Unknown
The report does not specify how many roles or candidates are affected, when the change began, or whether the decision is permanent. It is also unclear whether other Anthropic teams use DSA questions, whether the company has endorsed Rieseberg’s team-level approach, or whether a formal policy change is under consideration.
The source does not detail how the team reached its conclusion that the questions offered no useful signal. It provides no comparison of interview outcomes with later job performance and no account of the alternative assessments now used. The claim should not be read as proof that these interviews have no value for other teams or employers. Anthropic’s response, if any, is not included in the material provided.
Watch For Broader Hiring Changes
The next useful indication will be whether Anthropic confirms a broader change or other teams describe adopting the same approach. Further detail from Rieseberg about the replacement interview process, how the decision was evaluated, and its effects on candidate assessment would clarify what the change means in practice.
For now, the confirmed development in the source is limited to one team’s reported decision. The suggestion that other Anthropic groups or AI-native startups could follow remains a forecast, not a reported outcome. Candidates should check the requirements for each role rather than assume coding questions have been removed across the company.
Key Questions
Did Anthropic eliminate coding interviews company-wide?
The supplied report says a hiring manager’s team stopped asking coding questions. It does not confirm a company-wide policy change.
Why did the team stop asking data-structures-and-algorithms questions?
The report says the team found the questions provided no useful signal about candidates. It does not give the underlying evaluation data or methodology.
What will candidates do instead of coding questions?
The supplied material does not say what interview exercises replaced the questions, or whether the team adopted a specific alternative.
Will other Anthropic teams or AI startups follow?
The Pulse says they could follow, but provides no confirmation that another team or company has made the same change.
Source: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
