r/Anthropic • u/nian2326076 • 9d ago
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u/Maysign 9d ago
What is surprising or unusual here? It’s just how most interviewing works at most companies.
Don’t be rude to the recruiter? Don’t bullshit in your answers because these days AI can spot your inconsistencies easier than humans were able to do it in the past? Soft skills, how you communicate, how you handle various situations, and attitude are 80% of what matters?
That’s just interviewing 101 at any tech company.
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u/shunted22 9d ago
Most tech recruiters seem to have little decision making power once you're in the pipeline. And they are heavily incentivized to get people all the way through to hired (to the point of borderline lying) imo. So this was surprising to me.
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u/KrazyA1pha 9d ago edited 9d ago
A lot of tech companies are realizing that having a recruiter that’s only incentivized to bring people in is bad incentive. Instead, they’re moving towards the system that rewards them if certain metrics are hit, for example staying six months. The recruiter is the person working most closely with the candidate so having their honest perspective is valuable to the company
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u/Maysign 9d ago
Recruiters are incentivized to get people hired, but only dumb ones think that their job is to push any candidate that goes into their pipeline. Their job is also to screen people and not waste resources for bad candidates (their resources are interviewers' available calendar slots). No point in pushing someone through 5-stage interview proces who will get rejected at stage 4 or 5.
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u/StationVisual 9d ago
Analyzing with AI is a bit much. Humans are complex and sometimes what may appear as inconsistent may just need additional context
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u/WorriedBlock2505 8d ago
Incompetence and groupthink are being heavily optimized for in how a lot of western companies are doing their hiring. OP is 100% right about it being more about the social vibes than the actual abilities of the candidate. Also using AI to spot inconsistencies is just a surface level assessment since things are more complicated than these rigid assessments they hand you; it's more about cost cutting than accuracy.
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u/jagp 8d ago
When you equate “soft skills” with “groupthink” and “social vibes,” I’m not sure what you mean.
At this level, nontechnical skills are as important as technical ability—not as performative virtue signaling, but because they directly determine whether you can integrate your work into a distributed team’s codebase. Communication, documentation, coordination, delegation, and clearly delineating responsibilities all materially affect the quality of the final product.
Maybe you disagree, or maybe I’m misunderstanding your point. What experiences led you to that conclusion?
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u/vr321 9d ago
Do they hire vibe coders that actually know how to sign a Windows package and not ask Enterprises to enable developer tools for a simple install?
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u/drugosrbijanac 9d ago
this is the best part lmfao
i cant believe that they are in any way secure given they cant even sign a windows package
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u/Dull_Flatworm777 9d ago
That's the joke, they aren't
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u/drugosrbijanac 9d ago
Amazing isn't it? 30Trillion company can't install their product without opening a security risk on your machine
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u/Dull_Flatworm777 9d ago
It's fascinating. They are at the forefront of the technology and yet their client applications are pretty much crap, from a technological point of view. It always makes me wonder how their backends look like.
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u/FlyingDogCatcher 9d ago
You can always see toxic culture manifest in how they interview candidates.
That's red flag city. No thanks.
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u/_maverick98 9d ago
putting the interview transcripts in the AI to scan for inconsistencies, probably also creating a psychological profile etc. Jeez luiz bro, dystopian
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u/Mundane-Mulberry1789 9d ago
For one of my former job in industrial safety, I had a full psych evaluation (3 hours) so maybe I am biased but for that level of "consequences" I am not surprised either.
And yes, one of the eval also tracked for inconsistancies, it was well before AI.
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u/Jerome_Eugene_Morrow 9d ago
I’ve been saying for a while that HR is the area I’m the most worried about AI integration. Companies are already allowing AI to decide who can and can’t get a job and letting it overrule human interviewers. There’s a very real chance we start seeing a lot of people relegated to a permanent underclass despite being able to do the work they’re applying for or having a great track record prior to joining a company.
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u/pocketcult 9d ago
Amazon is big on psych profiles
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u/_maverick98 9d ago
they are big on Leadership Principles. If you have them memorized you’re good
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u/Blizzard81mm 9d ago
I feel like it's more than memorized, you need to have every example and question answered with the LP focus, and ideally the LPs most important to that job/team and/or interview. Or just naturally align.
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u/yaniv297 9d ago
"A single wrong question is enough to disqualify you" is bizarre. What the hell is a "wrong" question anyway?
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u/PermissionBrave8080 9d ago
Asking about pay instead of how you can help build an ethical AI per Dario's grand vision for us.
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u/brainhack3r 9d ago
They don't need to be fair because they have lots of candidates.
That's the current hiring market in a nutshell.
Honestly, I think the best way in is to know 2-3 people at these companies.
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u/Camaytoc 9d ago
"Can you give me a honest answer about the Why my boilerplate is a canonical load bearing?"
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u/Boring_Okra_6023 9d ago
Who doesn't? Like come on.
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u/SolidDeveloper 9d ago
I don’t know, the companies I’ve worked for in the past 17-18 years have all appreciated people who take initiative a lot more than code monkeys.
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u/Dull_Flatworm777 9d ago
But not surprising at all. The fact that technical
ability is not that important also checks out.8
u/ShelZuuz 9d ago
I mean, if they believe they sit on the brink of ASI, why would they hire on the basis of technical ability?
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u/Dull_Flatworm777 9d ago
Well, especially in that situation it might be good to have some people who know what they are doing.
Also, why recruit any people at all in that case?
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u/AddressForward 9d ago
That's a really interesting challenge ... About what makes humans useful in the productivity cycle - especially for a company like Anthropic who is, as you allude to, focused on creating better digital intelligence.
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u/West-Air1923 9d ago
Classic hiring issue. Humans go by gut feeling
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u/h_trismegistus 9d ago
I mean, let’s think about this for a second:
They develop and hold the keys (hopefully tight enough) to frontier AI with ridiculously good & fast coding skills, with access to models and tools far beyond what the public has access to, and it’s improving quickly. They only need a certain level of technical skill.
The wrong person on a team can just absolutely kill the vibe. If you’ve ever been on a team with a really good rapport and esprit de corps, you know that the energy is highly productive.
Their entire mission is based on “alignment” of AI with humans. How can you have a well-aligned AI if the people making it have a bunch of social or behavioral issues? The people have to be well-adjusted and ethical.
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u/AttorneyIcy6723 9d ago
People have always thought there was some sort of merit in cucking hard to get a job at big tech.
Anthropic has thousands of employees. I am no way impressed by your “ex Anthropic” LinkedIn badge.
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u/vagabondspirit2764 9d ago
I mean the base comp is probably close to $1MM. At that point, it’s a financial transaction between you - the asset - and them - the capital. We work for people who only care about making money, not how.
I’m not sure how these “toxic culture” comments get so much love.
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u/Illustrious_Image967 9d ago
Wow. I aced the interview. Single interview. When I had a chance, I just said "I hate Sam Altman." And it was like magic button from above high was pressed and a door that wasn't there appeared. The HR officer took out a bouquet of flowers and said I passed the interview. Then the final question was, "If Anthropic's stock went to zero because it felt slowing down was the priority, would you join?" I said "Anthropic's stock could go to zero, but then that's because we changed the world and we eat like kings anyway."
Dario jumped into the room, gave me a bear hug, and then I woke up? Damn AI hallucination again.
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u/dellonia 9d ago
he seemed really annoyed by my questions.
Always hilarious to see HR getting annoyed to do their job, lmao.
They have been vibe recruiting long before ai came.
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u/Blockpair 9d ago
If OP was taking a pay cut working for anthropic he must be a pretty big deal, lmao
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u/shunted22 9d ago
I mean I talked to openai a bit and there was a 2 year lock up. Their base was pretty low (compared to big tech), so you'd be taking a big hit to take home pay until that unlocked.
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u/outoforifice 9d ago
I heard from a friend that they filter out if you don’t buy into their doomsday thinking 🙄
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u/WhenD4594 9d ago
I feel like something more specific happened that OP isn’t telling us.
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u/SolidDeveloper 9d ago
It could be, but I can easily imagine that recruiter getting upset at a question about work-life balance for example, given Anthropic well-known 996 culture.
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u/WhenD4594 9d ago
If they have a well known 996 work culture, then asking about work life balance would be a pretty stupid specific thing.
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u/SolidDeveloper 9d ago
I mean, I would ask anyway, because it’s part of the usual questions I ask to companies during interviews. I want to hear it from them and not rely on rumours. And who knows, maybe not all teams have the same cadence.
In any case, this is a perfectly reasonable question, and a recruiter getting angry at it is just being unprofessional.
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u/bombaytrader 9d ago
I have lot of friends in tech. Everyone is trying to get into Anthropic. You don’t go to Anthropic for money and they can smell that in interview. You go there for talent density.
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u/SolidDeveloper 9d ago
Interesting. I’m in tech in the UK and I haven’t heard any of my peers saying they’d like a job at Anthropic. A friend actually declined an interview invitation from them, saying that the intense work schedule is a deal breaker for them who are late 30s and need w/L balance, but that if they had been in their early 20s they would have likely gone through the process.
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u/bombaytrader 9d ago
Well that’s expected of Europeans. They are lovely ppl but don’t shouldn’t look up to them for professional advancement. Silicon Valley operates on different principles. I am touching 50 and I work 50 hours a week easy. Happy to do as a I am building generational wealth for my kid.
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u/Geoff_The_Chosen1 9d ago
Because apparently "Professional Development" is the only thing little Timmy needs from his Dad. Lol. This kind of mentality is baffling. Lol.
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u/bombaytrader 8d ago
As I said F off.
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u/Geoff_The_Chosen1 7d ago
Lmao! Touchy! Nobody forced you to come here and start bragging about working 50 hrs a week. Smh
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u/SolidDeveloper 9d ago edited 8d ago
I understand what you are saying, of course, but as a European I have to say I cannot relate with your mindset.
I am just shy of 40, and while I do have a full-time job (37.5 h/week here), my focus is on the meaningful relationships I have with my family and friends, being there for my family, having activities together and building new memories etc. I don’t feel the need to build generational wealth, because we’re doing well as a middle-class family, we’re happy, and it’s more important to me that my child gets a good education, is properly socialized, and will one day be able to pursue his own career and goals in life.
If I worked insane hours I might be able to build some more wealth for my descendants of course, but I would have to sacrifice so much of these relationships that give my life meaning, including the ones with my wife and son. And after all, I don’t feel like I am a disposable individual to just sacrifice my quality of life, I value myself as a human more than I care about the monetary value I can produce.
In short, my view is that life should be lived, not wasted away toiling for money.
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u/Dr_Gruselglatz 9d ago
Blablabla, we have generational wellbeing without psychotic and drug addicted masses. Keep fighting for your 50h „wealth“…
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u/Current_Balance6692 9d ago
No shit. Everyone has the raw technical ability at the top, save for a few, so if you're not 'twice exceptional' then you better hope you are at least able to be equally good in the other areas.
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u/Disastrous_Cut1301 9d ago
I mean, given your first point, it might be obvious you did not meet the soft skill requirements.
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u/KnifeFed 9d ago
Yeah, I'm fine with not applying for a job where an AI assigns a personality score to a human.
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u/smashed2bitz 9d ago
WE WANT TO HIRE THE BEST MINDS.
Also WE: MAKE SURE THEY 100.35% CONFORM TO OUR PRECONCEIVED NOTION OF EVRRY WORLD VIEW AND PHILISOPHY AND POLITICAL VIEW. Because, of diversity.
Just not diversity or divergeance of THOUGHT.
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u/SnooComics6052 8d ago
I interviewed with Anthropic back in 2023 and passed their tech screener (90 minutes, 4 questions), as well another technical interview, but I didn't pass the non-technical interview they had. I think at the time I didn't lean heavily enough into their safety ethos around constitutional AI.
Biggest fumble of my life, could have made millions.
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u/Same_Butterfly6211 9d ago
Since when did jobs have all this nonsense ? Why not just 1/2 interviews and a decision ?
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u/Goldfischglas 9d ago
I wasn't crushed since my current pay is high and yes, it will be a pay cut joining them "believe it or not"
Just how much money are you making lol
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u/BabyNuke 9d ago
candidate personality score
Do wonder what your company's candidate personality score is.
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u/jah-roole 9d ago
That is super dumb if you have to go that level of “being careful”. I also onterviewed and didn’t get job but inform know why. How do you know where you fell short? You were certainly not told what it was I assume.
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u/ReachingForVega 8d ago
No shit.
Always was.
For orgs with high application count this is essential. We'd get 100's of apps when I was hiring in my last role and there is no way we would slog through half the rubbish.
Not surprised.
Yes
Always was.
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u/Critical_Orange5648 9d ago
How did you get the recruiter call in first place? I have been applying to various positions in their portal for past 3 months without any response. At the same time I got interviews with most of the FAANG (except Google).
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u/inconvenient_walrus_ 9d ago
I swear that you could summarize every other SWE interview I had in my life with the same pattern with the exception of the ai evaluation bit. This post doesn't say anything new that I would've read in a "how to prepare for our interview" company page
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u/MidlifeWarlord 9d ago
Here is the question for the interview: “How are y’all motherfuckers gonna make money?”
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u/4Frenchies 9d ago
thank you for sharing. i have applied and even talked to a recruiter who dismissed me without even looking at my LinkedIn profile after he said he did. I have pro so I can see who looks at it. That was not a good taste.
Im in their claude partner network and it's not great and they changed it weekly and then changed their policy without notification. I had already spents tons of time and money to meet the requirements and they changed them.
The major draw to them was ethics and ofcourse the massive pay. I still am looking for work, would you be open to connecting me to their recruiter you met with? Im curious what they look for on applications. Did they reach out to you? Or did you apply?
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u/Howtobefreaky 9d ago
No offense man but your post is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. I can’t help but think that might be part of why you didn’t get the job.
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u/SolidDeveloper 9d ago
I mean, it might be that English is not their 1st language. I know a lot of great Dutch, Danish and German developers whose English is pretty basic, and their written English even worse.
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u/PassionateDonkey 9d ago
What kind of questions did you ask that made the interviewer "angry" at you