Trouble is, unless more of the industry starts doing them so they're unavoidable, I'm going to skip companies that put these anywhere other than at the tail end of their process.
I'm not putting in half a day of work for zero pay to help you with your first-pass weed-out phase before we bother to make sure we align otherwise and this looks like a good fit. Thanks, bye, next (employer) candidate.
I like them because I have a far higher success rate with them. Take home tests cater to my strengths. Of course, I'm selective about the companies I apply for, and sometimes the test itself reveals something about the company, and I've rejected assignments after receiving them.
I agree and generally say I'm willing to an alternate, live coding approach instead. I'm not putting in hours and hours in some random take home that may or may not be discussed down the line. Been there and done that so many times. Most of the time it didn't even align with the job.
