Take-home assignments: reasonable filter or unpaid work? Pretty torn after this week
Just got a take-home that's realistically 6-8 hours if I do it properly: build a small API, write tests, dockerize it, plus a writeup. And it's only round two of five. Part of me gets it (they want real code, not just leetcode), part of me is annoyed I'm doing a mini-project for free while holding down a full-time job.
Where do you draw the line? Power through them, timebox to 2 hours and submit whatever's done, or decline and ask for a live pairing session instead? Curious whether declining has ever cost people offers, or if the good companies actually respect it.
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AnonymousAnon Torn on these too. My rule now: a scoped 2-3 hour take-home is fair, but "build us a mini production feature over the weekend" is unpaid work with extra steps. The good ones respect your time and let you talk through it after. The bad ones are honestly a red flag about the company.
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AnonymousAnon Five rounds plus a take-home is rough but sadly common right now. I've started asking upfront 'how many stages and roughly how long, total?' before I invest. Saved me from two processes that were clearly never going to end.
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AnonymousAnon Honestly I prefer take-homes to live coding because my brain works better without someone staring at me. But five rounds plus a take-home is a red flag on their process, not on you. That's a lot of hoops to jump for one job.
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AnonymousAnon I timebox hard now. Do the core feature well, write a couple of meaningful tests, and leave a README saying 'given more time I'd add X, Y, Z.' A company that expects 8 hours of free labor for a round-two isn't one I want anyway, and no good one has ever dinged me for scoping it down.