Exactly - being transparent about AI usage in interviews makes much more sense. Using AI effectively is becoming a crucial skill, like knowing how to use any other development tool. Using it well can supercharge productivity, but using it poorly can be counterproductive or even dangerous.
It's interesting that most software departments now expect their staff to use AI tools day-to-day, yet many still ban it during interviews. Why not flip this around? Let candidates demonstrate how they actually work with AI. It would be far more valuable to assess someone's judgment and skill in using these tools rather than pretending they don't exist.
If a candidate wants to show how they leverage AI in their workflow, that should be seen as a positive - it demonstrates transparency and real-world problem-solving approaches. After all, you're hiring someone for how they'll actually work, not how they perform in an artificial AI-free environment that doesn't reflect reality.
The key isn't whether someone uses AI, but how effectively they use it as part of their broader skillset. That's what companies should really be evaluating.
It's interesting that most software departments now expect their staff to use AI tools day-to-day, yet many still ban it during interviews. Why not flip this around? Let candidates demonstrate how they actually work with AI. It would be far more valuable to assess someone's judgment and skill in using these tools rather than pretending they don't exist.
If a candidate wants to show how they leverage AI in their workflow, that should be seen as a positive - it demonstrates transparency and real-world problem-solving approaches. After all, you're hiring someone for how they'll actually work, not how they perform in an artificial AI-free environment that doesn't reflect reality.
The key isn't whether someone uses AI, but how effectively they use it as part of their broader skillset. That's what companies should really be evaluating.