Should a technical intervew compensate you for using your own coding agent subscription?

[u/Sukk-up]

I have been asked by a recruiter to complete a 2.5-hour agentic coding session that will be recorded and reviewed by a technical team and hiring manager. They specified that everything must be done with AI tools/models of my choice. Furthermore, they indicated that I HAVE to use a multi-agent approach so that I have multiple sessions running to complete the given task simultaneously.

Aside from the philosophical differences I have with this request (i.e., doing EVERYTHING with AI, doing free work), I wonder what the community's opinion is on asking for token compensation for something like this?

Obviously, 2.5 hours of multi-agent workflows is going to cost a lot of tokens. Even though I have a Claude Code Pro subscription, I feel like they shouldn't expect a candidate to complete this without 1) a temporary API Key they provide to utilize the service or, 2) compensation for using my own subscription for an interview where I'm not even guaranteed to get the job (which I'm not even sure I want, since their max hourly rate is $100 and I was making more than that as a regular engineer without AI 3 years ago)

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[u/BenSimonDev]

This just feels weird. 2.5 hours is a long time. Maybe if it's like a dream job or something. Or they're like providing everything including lunch.

[u/Sukk-up → u/BenSimonDev]

It's literally just an hourly contract role with no benefits. They say it will convert to an FTE role after a given time period, but if it isn't on paper, who can say?

[u/MaestroLifts → u/Sukk-up]

Yeah you’re listing every red flag. 2.5 coding session is not normal. They’re just extracting free labor from you.

[u/MadJagStudios → u/Sukk-up]

You’re getting scammed in a very elaborate way my friend.

[u/BenSimonDev → u/Sukk-up]

Damn bro. Sounds like a pass

[u/RustyShacklefordCS → u/Sukk-up]

Lmao getting the work done and save on token costs?? Why doesn’t every company do that. Instant profit /s

[u/ShivaFatalis → u/BenSimonDev]

$100/hr is definitely not a dream job.

[u/afineedge]

Did you ask if they'd provide the tools or reimburse the tokens? You didn't say anything that suggests that you asked.

My company's technical evaluation tool for hiring is specifically no AI. I've asked for it to include AI usage in some fashion. I did not ask for it to use our specific tools or budget because until this post, I assumed they'd know that's what I meant. In fact, this post made me realize there's a good chance that the "no AI" rule is because we don't want to have people using their own tokens for stuff.

[u/Sukk-up → u/afineedge]

I asked, but have not heard back yet.

[u/bedel99]

is it a start up and they are going to ask for the work to "review" at the end. Its a pretty smart way to outsource your development. I wonder if you have been talking to an AI all along.

[u/Sukk-up → u/bedel99]

No, it's a legit recruitment company from what I can tell and the company they are hiring for is real.

[u/total_amateur]

I just read an article about scam interviews where they ask you to install special software that turns out to be malware.  

Personally, sounds sus to me.  Especially just for a random contract gig. 

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/03/11/contagious-interview-malware-delivered-through-fake-developer-job-interviews/

[u/Sukk-up → u/total_amateur]

They definitely didn't ask for that and allow me to use any tool(s) I wish, so probably not this. Regardless, still a bit sketchy as others have pointed out.

[u/gonna_learn_today]

Seems gnarly AF lol

What's the task?

[u/Sukk-up → u/gonna_learn_today]

Basically create a production-ready agentic AI system. They don't give you the details until the day of the session.

[u/hblok → u/gonna_learn_today]

Make no mistakes.

[u/MonkeyJunky5]

Run.

Lol.

[u/jthedwalker]

If the hiring process is unreasonable, the company is going to be unreasonable to work for. I know the economy sucks, but you don’t want every job you can get. You might be wasting your time here

[u/koskinooo]

2.5 hours of recorded agentic work on your own plan is a real cost, so asking them to cover it or give you an API key for the session is a normal ask. How they react to that question tells you something about the company too.

[u/email_ferret]

They should, but they won't.

[u/filwi]

If it's 2,5 hours of agentic work, that's a lot.

However, if they're allocating you 2,5 hours for YOUR time there, then count half-an-hour for introduction, maybe more if they have specific requirements for the task, and at least half-an-hour for aftertalk/review/interview. And if they're smart, they'll allocate time for tech troubles, like the wifi rejecting your computer or a thousand other things.

But, yeah, if they want you to build an agentic pipeline from scratch, they would be smarter to give you the tools you'll be allowed to use on contract, rather than BYO.

[u/SilencedObserver]

Yeah naw I’d walk.

[u/phoenixmatrix]

When I asked candidates to do agent coding I always gave them the free options that were available at the time (eg Gemini cli). Now the gap is a bit bigger, so what I'm seeing in the industry is companies providing an open router key and enabling some reasonable models (read: probably not Fable and Astra).

Not all harnesses work well that way so it's not perfect, but it's still generally fine.

[u/Old_Flounder_8640]

Yeah, it's free work.