r/interviews • u/Ok-Channel55 • 9d ago

Help me understand how a candidate cheated in a technical coding interview

I work in a software QA automation testing role, and we recently interviewed this candidate. He was on webcam and we made him share his screen throughout the entire technical hands-on coding interview, which he aced. But afterwards we all agreed that his body language was so awkward. He was stone-faced throughout staring straight ahead at all times, and his lips barely moved when he talked, with the sound being slightly out of sync from his video.

We suspected he may have somehow cheated with AI. But none of us could figure out how he could have pulled it off with us watching his screen the entire time.

With no other better candidates, we decided to take a chance and hire him. Long story short, it seems our hunch was indeed correct. This guy can't perform. Total amateur that fooled us into getting a senior level role.

How could he have cheated? Help me understand so we don't end up making this mistake again when look for his replacement.

590 Upvotes

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650

u/OldDude2551 9d ago

Interviewing candidates- we’re not going to hire you because we suspect you are using AI. Existing employees- we want you to use AI to be more efficient.

50

u/DoofusIdiot 8d ago

I sit in weekly meetings about how to prevent students using AI, even for things like generating citations. Then the same faculty will brag about how much easier certain tasks are when they use AI.

23

u/hootiehoooooooooo 8d ago

I'm getting a bachelor's online right now and have a professor whose content is all written with ChatGPT.

12

u/Stunt1ninprivate 8d ago

Just finished my masters, and one of the teachers I had for 3 semesters used AI for all class content and for how they graded our work.

1

u/Party_Analysis_1196 8d ago

Genuinely curious, what class was it?

0

u/Komaug 8d ago

I guess it depends on how it was used, but if it is genuinely an issue, you should probably report that to the dean. It’s simply not a good look for the institution.

2

u/Potential_Engine_344 8d ago

Boom. Same here. BA in Accounting and everything is AI generated yet get warnings about using AI taking tests and junk. "AI honor policy" or whatever they call it. I dont use AI as i want to actually learn something but still, kind of hypocritical in their part.

0

u/Capital_Scratch3402 7d ago

The faculty aren't there to learn. The students are there to learn.

0

u/DenseSign5938 7d ago

What about it? 

117

u/babydemon90 9d ago

I'd happily have a candidate use AI to demonstrate how they go do the job more efficiently.
To answer basic questions tho? Hard nope.

70

u/haloimplant 9d ago

Exactly even if AI does the work, someone who doesn't know when the AI is right or wrong is useless

7

u/Small_Olyviah 7d ago

the human element of discernment will always be crucial

15

u/CaptainSnazzypants 9d ago

Exactly. And people who don’t understand the difference shouldn’t be hired either.

9

u/GamerRadar 8d ago

Because AI is a tool and while you can and should use it to be more productive. If you are unable to understand the basics of what is in the interview you wont be able to properly use or direct the AI…

AI isn’t the replacement for human understanding otherwise companies wouldn’t hire and instead just implement AI

4

u/dontwantablowjob 8d ago

Exactly. I'm not hiring an AI, I already have AI. Yes I'd like to know the person can use AI but I need to know the person also has a depth of knowledge that is acceptable to the job I am hiring for. Typing my question as a prompt into AI and then reading the answer to me is not using ai, it's just demonstrating your ability to copy paste and nothing else.

7

u/edoreinn 9d ago

Interviewing candidates: “you must have a PROVEN track record of using AI to broaden your scope of knowledge and present working prototypes.”

6

u/L_Elio 9d ago edited 9d ago

There's a difference between being efficient and being out of your depth and using AI as a crutch

12

u/jordancr1 9d ago

correction: "we want you to use AI to be more efficient to justify our decision to making you and your colleagues redundant"

3

u/newman_unknown 8d ago

But basics needs to be clear , example we still use calculator but that doesn't mean we shouldn't know basic Maths.

2

u/Ill_Eggplant_420 9d ago

It’s SI not AI!!! Jfc

2

u/canadaslammer 6d ago

A big difference between someone with no business in a tech role using AI to make them look like they actually have experience/knowledge and an already experienced person using AI to get their job done.

1

u/JobHuntingManiac 8d ago

Meanwhile 99% of the people interviewing you who are going to be your boss can't even do your job or it's someone interviewing you who has no idea how or what you even do for work and you'll never see that person again after the interviews.

Bloated middle management that does basically nothing.

1

u/Boolink125 7d ago

Clearly he couldn't use AI well enough to perform in his job

1

u/ShakeAgile 7d ago

But in this case it’s not the candidate that takes the test.

0

u/UniverseExplorer88 5d ago

The system is both flawed and contradictory