Personally, I far prefer take home projects to doing random puzzles in an interview like a performing animal at a circus. I’ve found take home projects I’ve had before took around 2-3 hours to finish, and they’re actually be somewhat representative of the actual work I’d be doing. I’d much rather spend a few hours to do a small project using my own computer without anybody looking over my shoulder than cram for interview puzzles and hope I studied the right ones.
Neither are good indicators of job performance. With take home tests you reward people with more free time, or those willing to spend an inordinate amount of time compared to someone who already has a job and a family. With puzzles you reward those who also have an inordinate amount of free time and those that prioritize remembering algorithms rather than business requirements. Neither is appropriate for an interview.
I very much agree that the whole dynamic is absurd. In fact, I can’t think of any other industry where this sort of bullshit has been normalized. In most professions, you just list your experience, projects you’ve worked on, and talk about your skills. You don’t have to perform like a circus animal to prove that you do in fact know the profession you’ve been working in for years.
It can be fairly common in blue collar work too. Pretty much anything that’s skill over knowledge. Though programming is that one profession that rides the line between the two “worlds”
Personally, I far prefer take home projects to doing random puzzles in an interview like a performing animal at a circus. I’ve found take home projects I’ve had before took around 2-3 hours to finish, and they’re actually be somewhat representative of the actual work I’d be doing. I’d much rather spend a few hours to do a small project using my own computer without anybody looking over my shoulder than cram for interview puzzles and hope I studied the right ones.
Neither are good indicators of job performance. With take home tests you reward people with more free time, or those willing to spend an inordinate amount of time compared to someone who already has a job and a family. With puzzles you reward those who also have an inordinate amount of free time and those that prioritize remembering algorithms rather than business requirements. Neither is appropriate for an interview.
I very much agree that the whole dynamic is absurd. In fact, I can’t think of any other industry where this sort of bullshit has been normalized. In most professions, you just list your experience, projects you’ve worked on, and talk about your skills. You don’t have to perform like a circus animal to prove that you do in fact know the profession you’ve been working in for years.
It can be fairly common in blue collar work too. Pretty much anything that’s skill over knowledge. Though programming is that one profession that rides the line between the two “worlds”
that’s true