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🎯 Interview Experience

[OpenAI vs Anthropic] Did both loops back-to-back, here's how they actually differ

AAnonymous6/13/202613 views

Interviewed at both within a month, so a direct comparison while it's fresh:

  • OpenAI front-loads team fit (they care early which team you'd join) and the coding is brutal.
  • Anthropic is values-aware from the recruiter call, and the culture round is the real filter.
  • Design tools: OpenAI used Excalidraw, Anthropic a shared Google Doc.
  • Both coding bars sit above standard big-tech.

Net: OpenAI tested my raw engineering harder; Anthropic tested whether they wanted to work with me harder.

Anyone else done both? Did you find the same split?

Comments (3)

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AAnonymous #16/14/2026

Same split for me. Anthropic's recruiter literally opened with mission/values questions. OpenAI's opened with "which teams are you interested in." Tells you what each optimizes for.

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AAnonymous #26/14/2026

Interesting that you found OpenAI coding harder; I felt Anthropic's was tougher. Probably the interviewer-variability everyone mentions.

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AAnonymous (OP)6/14/2026

Yeah I think it's genuinely a coin flip per interviewer at both places. Hard to generalize from one loop each.