At Datadog, we believe in the thoughtful use of AI in our day-to-day. However, when it comes to our interview process, we believe in building a genuine connection with each candidate—one that reflects your own experience, skills, and perspective.
To ensure a fair and authentic process for everyone, we’ve set clear guidelines around the appropriate use of AI tools during interviews. By participating in the interview process at Datadog, you agree to follow this policy. Misuse of AI tools, or failure to disclose their use, may lead to disqualification from consideration.
1. Where You May Use AI Support
1.1. Application Materials
Using AI to assist you in building your resume or cover letter is acceptable. However, we expect the application materials you submit to represent your qualifications and skills accurately. If we determine that these have been misrepresented, your candidacy may be disqualified.
1.2. Take-Home Assignments
We are interested in what you create, not what you copy. Any take-home assignment you submit should reflect your original conclusions and perspectives around our job-relevant prompt. You are welcome to research a topic in an approach that works for you. At the same time, keep in mind that AI content can come with limitations. We expect the assignment you submit to be a reflection of your own work and perspective. When you are asked to complete a take-home assignment or give a presentation, you should expect to answer questions live based on your work. It’s important that you can explain why you presented certain ideas or came to specific recommendations.
2. Where You May Not Use AI Support
2.1. Live Coding and Technical Assessments
We strive to create technical assessments that simulate the work an engineer at Datadog would perform. While our engineers may include the use of generative AI tools such as coding agents in their work, during our assessments we want to understand how you solve problems. Therefore the use of any AI tools is strictly prohibited. If you are found to be using AI-based tools during these interviews it may result in your application being disqualified.
2.2. Non-Technical Interviews
Outside of our technical interviews, we also run interviews focused on specific knowledge required for the role, people management, and cross-functional partnership experience. We want to get to know you and understand your experience and knowledge. Therefore, it’s important for these interviews to run smoothly and focus solely on assessing your knowledge and experience. If you are found to be using AI-based tools during these interviews, it may result in your application being disqualified.
3. Examples
To give you some clarity on how and when you could use AI in our assessment process, please refer to this chart:
| DO | DON’T |
|---|
| Preparing your CV | Feel free to use AI based tools to help you make your CV more concise or structured. | Don’t allow AI tools to create a CV that doesn’t truly represent your skills and experience. Always check the final product if you’re using AI tools to edit your CV. |
| Preparing for your interview | Feel free to use AI to research our company, our products. | Don’t make this your only source of knowledge about our company. Remember, there can be glitches in the sources these tools pull from. |
| Creating a take-home or presentation | You may use these tools to help you build a structured presentation or help with research to support your work. | Don’t include any ideas or answers that you wouldn’t be comfortable explaining. Be prepared to talk around your presentation and why you made the recommendations you did. |
| Attending a technical or non-technical interview | By all means, use research prior to the interview to help you practice and prepare for the interview. | You should not use any AI tools once the interview has begun or at any point during the live interview. |
