OpenAI Research Scientist Interview Experience — New Card Game Coding Round That Tests Extensible OOD Design

OpenAI·Research Scientist·Sep 2026
Onsitemedium

The role was RS. I got a new coding problem, a card game. The first three parts were: first, implement a comparison where three of a kind > pair > high card; second, add a new hand so the order becomes three of a kind > flush > pair > high card; third, a discard rule (the rule I got is not quite the same as the one people posted on the forum, mine was to discard if it is not a pair). You can use the framework they give you or rewrite everything yourself. J, Q and K are represented as 11, 12 and 13, and you have to return the log of the whole process, which is fairly complicated.

Please leave room for the later interfaces when you write the first part, otherwise changing it afterwards is extremely painful. My feeling is that the interviewer was testing your OOD design thinking, i.e. whether you design for extensibility for new requirements down the road.

Published

Curated and edited by PracHub

Practice the questions from this interview

Discussion

Sign in to join the discussion. The author is notified of every comment.

Loading comments…

Interview at a glance

Company
OpenAI
Role
Research Scientist
Rounds
Onsite
Difficulty
medium
Interview date
Sep 2026
Questions from this interview
1 question

Real OpenAI interview experiences

First-hand reports from OpenAI candidates — the rounds, the questions they were asked, and how it went.

All 62 OpenAI interview experiences