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A hiring manager at Anthropic said his team has stopped asking software engineering candidates coding questions, after finding data-structures-and-algorithms interviews gave it no useful signal. The report does not say Anthropic has eliminated coding interviews across the company or identify the team’s replacement process.
A team at Anthropic has stopped asking software engineering candidates coding questions after concluding that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews provided no useful hiring signal, according to a hiring manager who leads work on Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop. The change concerns that manager’s team; the available report does not establish that Anthropic has dropped coding interviews companywide.
The development was reported in The Pragmatic Engineer’s The Pulse newsletter, which cites a blog post by Felix Rieseberg, the Anthropic hiring manager. Rieseberg said the team had stopped using coding questions for software engineering candidates because it found the exercise did not help distinguish candidates in a useful way.
The report specifically describes data-structures-and-algorithms, or DSA, interviews. It does not provide the team’s underlying data, explain how it measured interview performance, or say whether other parts of Anthropic use the same approach. It also does not describe what assessments have replaced coding questions, if any.
The newsletter suggests other teams at Anthropic and AI-native startups could follow, but presents that as a possibility rather than a confirmed change. Its broader report also covers AI spending and workforce developments at other technology companies; those items do not establish additional changes to Anthropic’s hiring process.
How Hiring Teams May Reassess Coding Tests
The decision matters because technical coding exercises are a familiar part of software engineering recruitment. If a team finds that these interviews do not give it useful evidence about candidates, dropping them could change how applicants are evaluated and which skills hiring managers prioritize.
For candidates, the immediate takeaway is limited: the reported change applies to one Anthropic team, not necessarily to every role at the company or to other employers. Applicants should not assume that coding interviews have disappeared from Anthropic’s process unless a recruiter or job-specific guidance confirms it.
For employers, the report raises a practical question about whether common interview formats measure the abilities teams need. The source does not show that DSA interviews are ineffective across the industry, or that removing them improves hiring outcomes. It reports one team’s assessment of its own process, not a comparative study.
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A Team-Level Change at Anthropic
The report identifies Rieseberg as a hiring manager who has led work on Claude Cowork and Claude Desktop. His account is the basis for the report that his team no longer asks software engineering candidates coding questions. That connection makes the decision relevant to hiring at a prominent AI company, but it does not make the change a companywide policy.
The newsletter frames the move as a development that other AI-focused companies may watch. It does not cite a second company adopting the same approach or report a formal Anthropic announcement. The distinction between an individual team’s practice and a broader recruiting policy is central to understanding what is confirmed.
Scope and Replacement Process
The source does not specify when the change took effect, how many roles or interviewers it covers, or whether Anthropic has approved a wider policy. It also does not describe the evidence behind the team’s conclusion that DSA interviews provided no useful signal.
It remains unclear whether the team has replaced coding questions with another technical assessment, changed the number of interview stages, or shifted evaluation toward work samples or other criteria. The report does not include a response from Anthropic describing its companywide hiring standards.
Whether Other Teams Follow
The next development to watch is whether Anthropic teams beyond Rieseberg’s adopt the same approach, and whether the company sets out a broader policy for engineering interviews. The newsletter says other AI-native startups could follow, but reports no confirmed adoption by them.
Until further details emerge, candidates should check the requirements for the specific role and rely on guidance from its recruiting team. The available report does not establish any companywide schedule or planned announcement.
Key Questions
Has Anthropic ended coding interviews for all software engineering roles?
No such companywide change is confirmed. The report says a team led by hiring manager Felix Rieseberg stopped asking coding questions.
Why did the team stop asking coding questions?
According to The Pragmatic Engineer’s account of Rieseberg’s blog post, the team found that data-structures-and-algorithms interviews provided no useful hiring signal.
What will replace the coding questions?
The report does not say whether the team introduced another technical test or changed other parts of its interview process.
Are other AI companies dropping coding interviews too?
The newsletter says other AI-native startups could follow, but it does not report confirmed changes at any other company.
Source: newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
