Key points
- An unnamed developer argues LeetCode-style interviews are pointless because they test riddles unrelated to software engineering work.
- Because questions are online, candidates memorize 1,000 of them to chase $200,000 jobs and learn nothing, he says.
- He built an AI tool to invisibly cheat these interviews, recorded himself passing an Amazon interview, and posted it, which got him into trouble.
Developer says LeetCode interviews are easy to hack with AI
LeetCode-style coding interviews are a broken filter, and one developer decided to prove it by beating them with AI. The questions test riddles rather than the job, and because the answers are all online, candidates memorize around 1,000 of them to win a $200,000 salary. He built a tool that feeds answers invisibly during a live interview, used it to pass an Amazon interview on camera, and published the recording.
Takeaways
- LeetCode tests nothing engineers do at work. The developer says LeetCode has nothing to do with what software engineers do on the job, comparing it to the interview cliche of asking how many balloons fit in the Empire State Building. He says the practice has been going on for around 20 years.
- Public answers turn the test into memorization. The questions are supposed to test critical thinking, but every one of them is available online. Candidates memorize the riddles rather than reason through them, so the format rewards preparation over the ability it claims to measure.
- A thousand riddles stand between candidates and $200,000. Passing one of these interviews leads to a job paying around $200,000 a year, so candidates memorize roughly 1,000 questions to get through it. The developer says that is the incentive the format creates.
- Nobody gains from the practice. The developer says the arrangement serves nobody. Candidates learn nothing from practicing the riddles and waste time they should spend programming, and the industry keeps running a filter that selects for memorization instead of engineering ability.
- He wanted to kill a stupid practice. He decided LeetCode-style interviewing was a stupid industry practice he wanted to change, and the technology existed to build a tool around it. That decision was the impetus for everything that followed.
How he hacked the coding interview
- He built a tool that invisibly lets candidates use AI to answer interview questions in real time.
- He recorded himself using it during an Amazon interview.
- He got the job.
- He posted the recording everywhere with the message that these interviews are easy to hack.
- It eventually got him into some trouble.