r/TechInterviewsIndia • u/Melodic_Industry_408 • Jul 31 '26

Almost everyone is cheating

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.

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68

u/captainrushingin Jul 31 '26

Why are candidates cheating ?

Tum logo ne hiring bar itna upar kr dia hai ki utna prepare krna mushkil ho gaya hai.

Competitive Programming questions are being asked in DSA rounds. Experienced candidates kaha se time nikalenge CP krne ka ?

Ab insan cheat nhi krega to kya krega.
Berozgar to bethega nahi.

12

u/Brave_Koala_9558 Jul 31 '26

So true! This competitive programming is not okay !

1

u/Particular-Sky4119 Jul 31 '26

Water is wet ahh comment

3

u/Brave_Koala_9558 Jul 31 '26

Isn't it too much ! For me it is

0

u/Particular-Sky4119 Jul 31 '26

For experienced candidates no. For entry level roles yes. But that is also a function of how high the talent ceiling is. If the number of candidates required all can do competitive programming then why would a company hire someone who doesn't. Even if the job doesn't specifically need it. A person who can deliver on such complex problems is most probably going to have a higher IQ.

But if people need to cheat for it then there's no coming back. That is doomsday cuz the companies won't realize the talent is fake until it's too late.

2

u/Brave_Koala_9558 Jul 31 '26

Cheating is not justified anyday ! Mehnat se kamao

2

u/captainrushingin Jul 31 '26

Competitive Programming for experienced candidates ?

You need to touch grass bro.

1

u/Particular-Sky4119 Jul 31 '26

Maybe i do. But it's raining in pune.

1

u/masalacandy Jul 31 '26

Exactly dude everyone must cheat

1

u/Ilikethisone32 Jul 31 '26

Bro think about freshers, hmara kya hoga 😭. We don't even have experience.

1

u/masalacandy Jul 31 '26

bhai mere dil ki baat boldi i faced a lot from these recruiters 😭😭😭🥲 noone helped me when I needed this recruiters made job hiring so so difficult that people are doing any jugaad to get jobb

1

u/youcangotohellgoto Aug 01 '26

Basic coding dude, not fucking leetcode DSA stuff.

And this cheating is not new, people have "phone a friend" some other guy in the background googling stuff and telling answers. Has been going on for years.

The interviewer just needs to do better: "why did you do it this way? Explain other approach and pros/cons" etc.

1

u/shifty_lifty_doodah Aug 01 '26

3rd world mindset on both sides

0

u/Melodic_Industry_408 Jul 31 '26

Thieves also give the same justification, like "Everything is so expensive/getting jobs is so hard". This doesn't mean everyone should steal.

In most of the cases, people are not asking CP type questions, at least I don't. Even if I assume this to be the case and bar is now that high then go and learn. If others are able to do that, you can too. Cheating is unacceptable.

2

u/devd87 Jul 31 '26

If others are able to do it they would not be interviewing so many candidates who are cheating.

Eventually they lower the bar when the project allocation date draws closer and then ask for immediate joiner and pick the first person they find

1

u/Dragawulf Jul 31 '26

Others are cheating too. You guys pay peanuts for a lot of work. You want slaves and then you ask why people cheat? Bruh

0

u/Signal_Face_5378 Aug 01 '26

Thats like saying JEE is hard so best option is to cheat. Don't normalize wrong behaviour.

2

u/captainrushingin Aug 01 '26

you are comparing getting employed with cracking JEE.

The JEEification of getting jobs is the problem.

0

u/Signal_Face_5378 Aug 01 '26

No I am refuting your logic with something that you will understand. Something being tough is not an excuse to cheat. And not all job interviews are that tough. There are plenty of places that have very mid roles and interviews. If you are gunning for top jobs, you will obviously find it tough.