AI-Assisted Coding

More companies now run coding rounds where AI assistants are allowed — or expected. Learn what these rounds evaluate and how to stay in the driver's seat.

The New Round

• Introduction — What AI-assisted coding interviews look like and what they actually evaluate.
• A Winning Workflow — Plan, delegate, verify, integrate — a loop that shows judgment, not just speed.
• Prompting Under Pressure — Giving an assistant the context, constraints and examples it needs.
• Reviewing AI Code — Catching the subtle bugs assistants introduce, and testing as you go.
• How to Prepare for AI Rounds — What to practice, a two-week plan, realistic mock setups and reviewing your recordings.

Round Types

• Working in an Unfamiliar Codebase — A 10-minute orientation routine and using the assistant as a guide you verify.
• Debugging with AI — Hypothesis-driven debugging instead of the "fix this error" loop.
• Building from a Spec — Finding the spec's gaps, owning the design and building in verified slices.
• Testing with AI — Choosing what to test, spec-first tests, reviewing generated tests and property checks.
• Refactoring & Performance with AI — Behavior-preserving refactors in small steps, and measure-profile-fix for slow code.
• Multi-Level Problems with AI — Designing for later levels, spec checklists and keeping the assistant from rewriting earlier work.
• Data & Integration Tasks with AI — Messy data files, log-analysis scripts and third-party API integrations, checked properly.

Tools & Pitfalls

• Tools & Context — Inline, chat and agent modes, giving the right context, and preparing your setup.
• Common Mistakes — The ten habits that sink AI-assisted rounds — and what to do instead.
• Where AI Is Allowed — The kinds of AI policies in interview loops, what's been reported, and what to ask your recruiter.