A significant challenge in tech recruitment has emerged, highlighted by a recent ordeal faced by a technology firm struggling to fill an entry-level developer position. Despite offering a lucrative salary of ₹20 lakh per annum and conducting a staggering 450 interviews from over 12,000 applicants, the company failed to find a single suitable candidate. This predicament prompted the firm to share its experiences on the Developers India subreddit, sparking a widespread debate about modern hiring practices and the impact of artificial intelligence on programming competence.

The company had advertised junior-level frontend, backend, and quality assurance (QA) roles on LinkedIn. The attractive compensation package drew a massive pool of over 12,000 applications. An initial filtering process eliminated nearly 10,000 applicants, primarily due to poorly tailored resumes and a discernible lack of relevant technical skills, a step taken to optimize time for both the company and the applicants.

Candidates who advanced to the interview rounds were rigorously tested on fundamental programming principles, including standard data structures and algorithms such as trees, heaps, linked lists, and graph traversal methods like breadth-first search and depth-first search. In a move to simulate real-world working conditions, the firm uniquely permitted candidates to use AI tools like ChatGPT during assessments. However, this contemporary approach backfired profoundly.

While many candidates were quick to produce functional code solutions, often copied directly from AI, a critical problem arose when interviewers requested explanations of their own code. Most were unable to articulate what their code was doing, nor could they detail its time and space complexity. This led to the striking realization that a significant number of applicants were merely copying and pasting AI-generated code without any genuine comprehension of the underlying logic—a phenomenon the recruiter aptly termed "vibe coding."

This troubling pattern forced the company to introspect on its own recruitment strategies. Questions arose regarding whether their interview process was excessively rigid or flawed, or if this issue pointed to a broader problem of aspiring developers becoming overly reliant on AI tools, thereby bypassing the essential foundational learning required to become truly competent programmers. The Reddit community provided candid feedback, with some users criticizing the company's efficiency and suggesting that 450 hours spent on interviews without a single hire indicated deeper internal issues or a broken hiring strategy rather than a lack of talent in the applicant pool.

The incident underscores a growing concern in the tech industry: while AI tools can enhance productivity, an over-reliance on them without fundamental understanding can hinder genuine skill development. This case serves as a stark reminder for both recruiters to re-evaluate their assessment methods and for aspiring developers to prioritize deep conceptual knowledge over superficial AI-assisted solutions to ensure long-term career success and genuine programming competence.