The Hiring Signal Is Moving Out of the Code

The easiest mistake in a code review is stopping when the code runs.The code compiles and the tests pass. Then you notice the part the test did not cover: the retry behavior changed, an implicit contract moved, or the abstraction will make the next incident harder to debug.That is the gap hiring has always tried to measure. Code is the thing a company can put in front of a candidate, so code became the proxy. Solve the problem. Talk through the implementation. Pass the tests. From there, the hiring team inferred judgment, ownership, taste, and level.AI makes that inference weaker.A candidate can now arrive at correct-looking code with a model beside them. That does not make the work fake, and it does not make coding interviews useless. It means the useful questions start after the answer appears: what did the candidate trust, what did they reject, what did they test, and what risk would they own if this shipped?That is the shift this piece is about. The hiring signal is moving out of…