ChatGPT and Software Intern Job Interviews
Oct 4, 2025, 8:44PM ESTDear interns,
Over the past week, I've had the opportunity of interviewing several interns at work for software development positions. During the summary meeting we had as interviers, we came to see several patterns that I want to share with you that will help you to succeed in finding a job, and more than that, to succeed in your future career. This advice is mainly for software engineers, but I assume that a lot of the advice can apply to most interviewees, especially in a STEM field.
Here are 2 patterns we noticed:
Looking up Technical Questions During the Interview
I'm sorry, but it's very hard to get away with this one successfully. It was clear to us that some people were using ChatGPT during the interview and there are many things that can clue us off on this. First off, some interviewees were slow to answer questions, as if they didn't have the answer, and all of a sudden, they switched into pros of the question as if they'd been an expert on the subject all along. If it really was a memory block, they probably would have asked some follow-up questions to unblock it. In the worst cases, we could see intervieweers glancing down at their phone, taking the time to type the question out and wait for the response. In one case, we could even see the reflection of a ChatGPT browser window in the interviewees glasses. Ouch.
Look, I get it, you can't know the answer to everything. And neither do we! Of course, being able to expertly answer technically questions that directly apply to the role you are applying for is impressive, but one notch below that is being able to demonstrate that you have the ability to learn these new concepts or come to a solution. If the question is a problem to solve, you can break down how you would go about finding the solution. On the job, you can use ChatGPT, Google, or StackOverflow, and you can say that you would use these tools as a starting point to finding answers, maybe moving on to documentation. Ask follow-up questions about the problem to understand it fully and get all the info you need to get started on it. Describe how you would design the solution. Help the interviewer feel confident that if you were assigned to solve the problem after the interview was over, that you would be able to do it. If the question is simply about a general programming concept, library or programming language, just be honest that you don't know about that, but ask the interviewer what it is with genuine interest. This shows that you are interested in learning.
When people resort to using ChatGPT during the interview, they not only show that they don't know the answer, but that they are also dishonest. Honesty is a really important quality when working on a team. Dishonest software developers blame others when things break, they overestimate their ability (often leading to tasks taking longer than they should when they don't ask for help), and don't use their time at work efficiently. Honest software developers take accountability and seek to find solutions as a team, they are quick to acknowledge where they lack experience and wish to become more skilled, and they use their time, and the time of others, effectively. Who would you rather work with? Overall, I'd much rather see someone who doesn't know the answer but is eager to know it or solve the problem, than someone who tries to trick me.
"I get ChatGPT to do the work"
This one is way less egregious in my book. From the interviews, it seems that some interns view using ChatGPT as some huge asset. However, for an interviewer, it's about as impressive as saying you can Google search well. Sure, it requires certain skill to get some of the answers you are looking for, but it's certainly not a stirring selling-point. I asked one interviewee how they would go about designing a particular solution and their answer was basically "I'd ask ChatGPT to do it for me". The response I wanted to give was "Okay, so then why would we hire you if we can get ChatGPT to do your work", but I didn't want to sound rude.
I understand the excitement that students have with LLMs. It's impressive technology that we are making use of in the workplace more and more with great benefits to learning and efficiency. However, be careful not to make yourself seem obselete by these technologies. These technologies are only able to do pretty basic stuff well, but for anything with some complexity, they make tons of mistakes that are difficult for anyone to debug except good software engineers. Position yourself as someone who can use the technology to help you learn and work more quickly, but being able to solve the difficult problems using your brain. The truth is that these technologies have more knowledge than our brains could ever obtain in our short lives, but they simply aren't smarter than us. Your brain is your biggest asset as an engineer, aside from maybe being able to work in a team, so don't tell the interviewer that your let artificial intelligence replace it.
You've Got This!
Finally, a word of encouragement: Becoming a good software engineer is an arduous journey with many plateaus that requires hard earned experiences, created by mistakes and successes, to reach. We understand that interns simply haven't had the time yet to get to far yet. Having AI give you the answers or do the work for you robs you of getting these valuable experiences, causing you to delay getting to the next stage, or maybe even never get there. So my advice to you is to be excited about the journey. Share what your existing experiences have taught you and the experiences you hope to have at the job you are interviewing for. If you don't know something yet, be honest that you simply haven't had the chance to learn it yet, but show you are eager to learn. And show that you are eager to get down into the nitty-gritty, breaking down problems, researching, designing and build solutions using your powerful brain. Each step of the journey will get you to a place that you can be proud of and be someone an employer would be excited to hire and help you grow to the next stage.
All the best,
Nate
nate@origin8publishing.com
