{"generated_at":"2026-11-12T18:49:22.163Z","source":{"name":"Hacker News public API","url":"https://github.com/HackerNews/API","attribution":"Stories and comments are public Hacker News submissions by their respective authors. HackerHub is an independent reader, not affiliated with Y Combinator.","content_is_untrusted":true},"story_id":50461853,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50461853","total_comments":3,"returned":3,"scope":"Up to the requested number of top-level comments in Hacker News ranked order. Deleted comments are omitted. Nested replies are not fetched; this is not the complete thread.","comments":[{"id":50464056,"author":"domelian","created_at":"2026-11-12T07:20:47.000Z","text":"For a work sample, I’d leave one requirement a little ambiguous and tell the candidate they can ask questions. During my AiSDR (it's YC S23) interview, I was allowed to search and ask for clarification. I initially thought that was a trap. I once wrote about finding out what the CTO was looking for (https://domelian.substack.com/p/1000-days-at-yc-company): what I did when I got stuck, and whether we could think through the problem together. I’d make that permission explicit, especially if candidates are also allowed to use AI.","parent_id":50461853,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50464056"},{"id":50461914,"author":"anilgulecha","created_at":"2026-11-12T01:41:18.000Z","text":"It's in a flux, and no standard has emerged. The closest I'm observing across companies I work with is customized work-sample.\n\"If you can't do standardized, then just have them work on your codebase to see if they can grok it.\"","parent_id":50461853,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50461914"},{"id":50462370,"author":"austin-cheney","created_at":"2026-11-12T02:35:41.000Z","text":"Pretty much the same as always. I am an ancient JavaScript guy, so most of the interviews comprise opinions about subjects for young people with limited experience that I find to be absolutely unnecessary. That goes about as well as it sounds.","parent_id":50461853,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50462370"}]}