Episode Details

91% of engineers now use agentic AI coding tools at work — and 75% have shipped production code that was partially or primarily AI-generated in the last six months. But most technical hiring still bans AI from assessments entirely. That disconnect is becoming a real problem for talent teams trying to identify strong engineering candidates in 2026. CodeSignal launched the industry's first agentic coding assessments in April 2026. The format lets candidates use real AI tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex during the evaluation — and then requires them to explain every decision they made. Hiring teams receive full transcripts of all AI interactions, giving a window into engineering judgment rather than just the final output. In this episode, we break down how the three-step format works, why the explain-your-decisions stage matters most, and what this shift means for technical hiring strategy today.