# What We Learned Hiring 33 Engineers in Two Weeks

DevFeed: [What We Learned Hiring 33 Engineers in Two Weeks](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-we-learned-hiring-33-engineers-in-two-weeks-19859.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.digitalocean.com/blog/ai-native-engineering-interview>)

Author: Janet Harrah

Published: 2026-06-09T22:58:20Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [DigitalOcean](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/digitalocean.md>)

Topics: [AI Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-development.md>), [ide](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ide.md>), [Claude Code](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/claude-code.md>), [codex](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/codex.md>), [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/coding.md>), [Digital Ocean](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/digital-ocean.md>)

Tags: [ai](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai.md>), [ai-tools](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/ai-tools.md>), [claude-code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/claude-code.md>), [code](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/code.md>), [codex](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/codex.md>), [culture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/culture.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [digitalocean](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/digitalocean.md>), [hiring](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hiring.md>), [prompt](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/prompt.md>), [prototype](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/prototype.md>), [trust](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/trust.md>), [verify](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/verify.md>)

## AI overview

DigitalOcean describes replacing its standard engineering interview loop with a three-hour build session in which candidates design, build, and deploy a working prototype. Candidates could use AI tools, and the process aimed to assess real engineering decisions.

## Source excerpt

Earlier this year, we needed to hire a cohort of engineers in Seattle, fast. We had a product launching at our marquee conference, Deploy, a hard deadline, and a clear picture of what the work would actually require. What we didn't want was an interview process designed for a world that no longer exists. So we rebuilt it from scratch and opened a brand-new office in Bellevue for everyone we hired. Here's what we did, why we did it, and what we heard from the engineers who went through it. The problem with the standard loop The traditional engineering interview loop (recruiter screen, hiring manager screen, technical phone screen, take-home, onsite) was designed for a different era of software development. It tests for pattern recognition and syntax recall. It stages information rather than creating genuine signal. And it takes weeks. More importantly, it doesn't reflect how engineers actually work today. Production environments are collaborative. Most engineers entering the field right now have been working with AI tools since they were in school, not reluctantly adopting them, but building with them naturally. A hand-implemented sorting algorithm on a whiteboard tells you almost nothing about how someone thinks through a real system. We wanted an interview that did. What we changed We made the work the interview. The centerpiece of our on-site was a three-hour build session. Candidates chose from a short list of assigned prompts and were asked to design, build, and deploy a working prototype on DigitalOcean by the end of the session. They could use whatever AI tools they wanted: Claude Code, Codex, ours, whatever they were fastest with. Three hours is the minimum window in which you can actually watch someone make real engineering decisions: what to scaffold versus what to write by hand, how they prompt, what they verify versus what they trust, how they handle the moment when the AI confidently produces something that doesn't work. That moment always comes. We shif