# Technical Interviews Should Test Explanation and Tradeoffs Not Recall When AI can produce a plausible implementation on demand, a technical interview should test whether a candidate can explain the code, verify that it works, and compare several solutions under real constraints. Recall-heavy algorithm puzzles measure an increasingly peripheral skill; review and tradeoff judgment measure the work that still determines whether generated code is safe to merge. <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ## Scope & conditions This applies to software roles where candidates may use AI-assisted tools in normal work. Some algorithmic roles still require deep recall, but even there explanation and validation expose understanding better than a memorized answer alone. ## Evidence > “If you can't explain what it's doing, then like I'm not going to let you merge it. I'm not going to approve your PR if you can't give me a two sentence description of how your code works.” The source also proposes asking candidates for three solutions and requiring them to argue the tradeoffs, which turns the interview toward realistic engineering judgment. ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/The Bottleneck Moved From Code Generation to Review and Judgment]] — applies-in: the interview should measure the bottleneck the job actually has after generation becomes cheap. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Code Review Is a Human Knowledge-Transfer Ritual Not Just a Quality Gate]] — extends: explanation during review shows whether a candidate can transfer reasoning rather than merely submit output. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Gate Contributions on Demonstrated Comprehension Not on Tooling]] — evidence-for: access to a tool doesn't establish comprehension of the resulting change. - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Always-Available AI Pairing Decouples Output-Pairing From Social-Pairing]] — extends: the same source's companion claim — once AI absorbs output, the durable human value shifts to judgment (this note) and cohesion (that note). - [[3. Resources/MOCs/DevRel MOC]] — applies-in: the MOC lists this note under Synthesis additions (2026-08-11). ## Source - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Articles/Coding Interviews in the AI Era Beyond LeetCode for Career Growth]] — primary discussion and verbatim evidence.