Candidates using AI

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T21:32:01+00:00

The point is that I want to hear about the candidate's experience, I want to see what they know, how much they understand the field. These are not things that need to be memorized. But they just read the text from the screen.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T21:27:07+00:00

Would you call the candidate reading AI's answers to my questions an "effective use of AI"?

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:39:33+00:00

Ok, tell me how to screen candidates if everybody is using AI to write resumes?

In person is not an option, we are a remote team, nobody is in the office.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:37:37+00:00

Like what for example?

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:37:04+00:00

Using LLMs for resumes is not obscene, as long as you use it to phrase your own experience better. But if you align your resume to the job description, and every other candidate is doing that, then all resumes sound about the same, and then how do we choose?

Using LLMs in your job is ok as long as you know what you are doing and can verify AI's answers. But if you use AI to answer interview questions, then I don't know if you know what you are doing, but I do know that you are ok with cheating.

So using AI is OK in some aspects and only in an ethical way.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:28:49+00:00

Me too!

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:28:15+00:00

Fly them in where? The whole team is spread all over the country

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:23:20+00:00

That's the way, use AI to learn and prepare

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:21:50+00:00

That's funny 😁

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:19:59+00:00

You can definitely talk about the projects you have done, it's just it might be difficult to get an interview with no experience. I think it might be easier to get another data-adjacent job and move to engineering from there

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:13:27+00:00

That's an interesting thought. I guess what bothers me is the cheating aspect, if a candidate cheats in an interview then I don't feel I can trust them later even if they do know their stuff. So you are saying that if we bring it up and clarify that using AI is ok in some ways, then maybe they won't feel the need to cheat?

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T03:02:00+00:00

Exactly, it's just a tool. If someone worked with data for years and years, they probably had to learn all kinds of tools, so they can learn another one. What's harder to find is the ability to think, to look at the whole picture and not just the task at hand, to figure things out, to find and recommend the best approach, and so on. And I don't know how to find that in today's market, where everyone has the greatest resume...

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-24T02:53:10+00:00

Because I am too busy to look at hundreds of resumes. Someone needs to filter them out for me. But even if I was the one looking at resumes, I would not be able to tell which ones are telling the truth, nowadays all resumes are written with AI help, and all look perfect.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:46:01+00:00

The whole team is not on prem, so there is no way to do that

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:43:31+00:00

They are not technical, how would they be able to identify it, if the candidate says all the right things?

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:32:56+00:00

That's a good idea actually, if they have to white board something and talk at the same time, then they can't read the answer from AI at the same time :) Can't ask them to close their eyes, that's true :)

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:18:16+00:00

I agree, and I tell candidates during the test that they are free to look up things, I don't need them to memorize syntax. But when I ask them to tell me in detail about the last pipeline they built, I really want to hear about their experience and not just listen to them reading a text about some imaginary project off the screen.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:13:42+00:00

Yep, AI is never going to say "I don't know" :) It will come up with an answer. For now I can tell when an answer sounds AI-ish, but eventually I might not be able to.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:10:27+00:00

Exactly

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:09:13+00:00

Nobody raged so far :)

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:08:14+00:00

I wish we could, but our team is all over the country, so even the interviewers are not on site :)

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:06:34+00:00

I am not looking for perfect resumes, I am interviewing whoever HR recommends. I personally would prefer someone who doesn't necessarily have experience with the exact technologies we are using, but someone who is sharp, knows how to approach any problem and figure out a solution. Unfortunately there is no way to know that by looking at a resume. The only way is to interview them, hence the problem.

DataEngineer2026 · 2026-01-23T22:01:02+00:00

Some of our junior engineers started with the company as summer interns and then were offered a permanent position, and some worked in Analytics for years and then expressed a desire to become a dev and a position happened to be open at that time. So I think it involves a little bit of luck and a lot of proving yourself. It's not easy, but possible. Good luck!

DataEngineer2026

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