Hiring managers want projects
A popular YouTube piece argues LeetCode‑only prep is overrated — hiring managers now favor deep project work, system design chops, and the ability to explain trade‑offs rather than memorized patterns. The takeaway is a stronger premium on end‑to‑end experience and clear communication in interviews. (youtube.com)
Marina Wyss — a Senior Applied Scientist who lists Twitch/Amazon as her employer and runs the “Marina Wyss - AI & Machine Learning” channel with ~129K subscribers — published the video on Mar 27, 2026 and timestamps show discrete sections on “Project‑based interviews” and “What hiring managers are looking for.” CoderPad’s State of Tech Hiring 2025 report says its survey covered over 5,000 developers and recruiters and lists “optimization, collaboration and system design” as the top skills employers want, with 90% of developers saying technical interviews are the best setting to showcase skills. A Feb. 26, 2025 Forbes Council piece argued that AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot have democratized implementation and therefore shifted hiring emphasis toward AI literacy, system design and architects’ ability to define problem scope and trade‑offs. CNBC reported in March 2025 that Google and other firms were reassessing remote, algorithm‑style interviews after examples of candidates using AI to game virtual coding platforms became public, creating employer pressure to change screening methods. A long discussion thread among engineering managers on Hacker News captured several firms’ internal moves from “LeetCode + system design” toward project‑based screens, with multiple commenters saying in‑scope project work produced stronger hiring signals for on‑the‑job performance. Voices pushing back include trade outlets and practitioners: Protean Labs published a June 2025 blog arguing LeetCode‑style interviews “don’t hit the right skillset” for production engineering, while an eFinancialCareers piece quoted fintech engineers who prefer timed algorithmic screens because take‑home projects can demand many unpaid hours. (eFinancialCareers — )
