Google is testing a new interview format for developers that will allow candidates to use AI assistants. The updates are being made to “better reflect the modern realities of engineering.”
Google is testing a new interview format for developers that will allow candidates to use AI assistants. The updates are being made to “better reflect the modern realities of engineering.”
The company is testing the new format in entry- and mid-level positions on select teams in the U.S. If successful, it plans to scale the approach to other divisions and regions, Business Insider reports .
Starting in the second half of the year, Google will allow the use of an “approved” AI assistant during the code comprehension phase. Candidates will be expected to be able to “read, debug, and optimize” an existing code base.
Interviewers will assess AI skills, including the ability to create prompts, verify results, and correct errors.
The company confirmed these plans and noted that during the pilot phase, candidates will use the company's own model, Gemini, as an AI assistant.
"We're constantly improving our interview processes to attract and hire the best talent," Brian Ong, Google's vice president of recruiting, told Business Insider. "As part of that strategy, we're launching a pilot for technical interviews to better reflect how our teams work in the AI era."
The “Googleyness and Leadership” stage, which previously focused on behavioral issues, will now also include a technical discussion of the architecture of one of the candidate’s past projects.
For less experienced specialists, one of the technical rounds will be replaced with an interview, where they will have to "solve open-ended engineering tasks," the document says.
This month, the company is testing new formats in several divisions, including Cloud, as well as the Platforms and Devices division.
A document about Google’s new interview process describes it as “human-led, AI-powered,” and says the format is designed to better mimic “the workflow of a software engineer in the era of generative AI.”
