The Async Queue Interview: An AI-Assisted Coding Challenge
2025-07-07
This blog post details a unique programming interview question: implementing an asynchronous queue, `sendOnce`, ensuring a single-threaded client only sends one request to a faulty server at a time. The interview assesses candidates' ability to handle tricky flag logic, debug code, program in a single-threaded environment, and adapt to new requirements (like minimum delays, batch sending, cancellation mechanisms, retries, etc.). The author also discusses AI's role in interviews, arguing that while AI can assist with coding, candidates still need code review skills; efficient AI tool usage is a new evaluation criterion.