In a world where artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work, think, and code, it’s time we asked a fundamental question: Are our technical interviews keeping up with reality?

As someone navigating the current job market, I’ve often found myself puzzled by the interview process. Despite having hands-on experience and the ability to build scalable applications, I’m frequently met with questions like:

“What’s the difference between an interface and a type in TypeScript?”

“Write a program to check if a number is a palindrome.”

“Solve this logic puzzle in 10 minutes.”

These questions aren’t inherently wrong – but are they the most relevant?

The Disconnect: Interviews vs. Real Work

Today, we’re no longer living in a world where developers work in isolation with only a compiler. We have:

AI tools that assist in writing and refactoring code,

Frameworks that abstract low-level operations,

Documentation and community support that solve most syntax-related doubts in seconds.

In such a context, asking someone to manually reverse a string or solve a basic math problem under time pressure feels outdated.

What Should Matter More?

Instead of memorized definitions or whiteboard programming, what truly reflects a developer’s value is:

Hands-On Experience

Can you architect and build scalable features from scratch? Can you write clean, maintainable, and testable code?

What are tools and libraries you used?

Have you written any customized libraries?

…..etc

Scenario-Based Questions

For example: How would you handle a failure in an API call in a production Angular app?

These reveal problem-solving skills, not just memory.

Requirement Analysis

Can you understand client requirements and break them into modules, components, or services?

Communication

This is critical. Developers don’t just write code – they collaborate. A person who can explain their thought process and align with team goals adds real value.

The Democratization of Coding

With AI tools and low-code platforms, even non-IT people are entering the tech space and learning to code. This is amazing. It shows that passion and learning ability matter more than degrees and textbook knowledge.

So why are we still gatekeeping jobs with outdated logic puzzles?

Final Thoughts

Yes, theoretical knowledge is useful. But it should be a supporting metric – not the primary one.

It’s time we modernize our interview processes to reflect how real-world development happens today. Let’s value creativity, practical skills, and communication just as much – if not more – than the ability to solve math puzzles under pressure.

Rethinking Technical Interviews in the Age of AI: Are We Still Asking the Right Questions? was originally published in Techminds on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.