DoorDash's AI-assisted engineering interview: format and prep
DoorDash is one of the few companies that has described its AI interview in public. In March 2026 it said it was replacing traditional coding rounds with a 60-minute AI-assisted working session on a realistic project. Here's what DoorDash says, what candidates add, and how to get ready.
What DoorDash says officially
From DoorDash's engineering careers blog, "Why DoorDash is rebuilding its engineering interviews around AI" (19 March 2026):
- 60 minutes on your own machine, in your own editor.
- AI use is required, not just allowed. DoorDash asks you to use an editor-integrated assistant so it can see the full loop of editing, running, debugging and iterating. It says free tiers of Cursor, Claude Code or Codex are enough.
- Every feature is allowed, including agent modes and running commands. The post says plainly: "yes, you are allowed to one-shot problems".
- Starter code in your language and a task that looks like real DoorDash work. Its examples are extending an order dispatch system, building a menu composer and automating support request handling.
- You share your screen and narrate what you're doing, what you'll try next and why.
DoorDash also says its first pilot used a three-service project that was too big: many candidates needed 15 to 20 minutes just to understand the code. It moved to smaller projects and now sends candidates a detailed guide in advance. Read that guide carefully if you get one.
What's scored
DoorDash lists a "small set of signals":
- how you get oriented in the code
- how you use AI and verify its output
- how you debug
- how you manage scope
- how you communicate trade-offs
"Finishing every task is less important than showing a tight loop and good judgment," the post says, "although velocity does matter." The skills it names include building a mental model of a new codebase quickly, turning a vague requirement into steps, and proving a fix with "a minimal repro", logs and targeted checks instead of trusting the AI.
AI in the rest of the loop
The AI session doesn't mean AI is allowed everywhere. DoorDash's separate stance on AI in interviewing (October 2025) says not to use AI in live interviews unless the interviewer invites you to, and that undisclosed use can disqualify you.
Candidate reports match this. One candidate in June 2026 described a first round in HackerRank where they had to type the code themselves, and struggled after a year of writing code mostly with AI (r/leetcode). The top reply on the main discussion thread, from someone who had done two AI-assisted interviews, said both were "very domain heavy" and that the bar is high (r/leetcode).
How to prepare
- Set up before the day. Editor, AI tool signed in, your language's toolchain and test runner working. DoorDash says early pilot candidates showed up without a working setup.
- Practice ramping up. Clone a small unfamiliar project and give yourself 10 minutes to explain its structure and how a request flows through it.
- Plan out loud before prompting. Break the task into steps, say which one you're starting with, then hand the AI one step at a time.
- Verify every change. Reproduce the bug first, add a targeted test, and read the diff before you accept it.
- Cut scope on purpose. Get the smallest working version running, then extend it. Say what you're leaving out and why.
- Keep your hand-coding sharp for any round where AI isn't allowed.
The format is close to what interviewers elsewhere call a vibe coding interview. See also how to use the AI without hurting your score and which companies allow AI.
Sources
- DoorDash: Why DoorDash is rebuilding its engineering interviews around AI (19 March 2026)
- DoorDash: Our stance on AI and interviewing (9 October 2025)
- r/leetcode: DoorDash gets rid of LeetCode interviews in favor of AI technical interview (March 2026)
- r/leetcode: Interview experience with DoorDash (June 2026, candidate report)