I Turned Down a “Founding Engineer” Role Because of Their Take-Home

It looked like a dream job on paper, but their simple take-home told me everything I needed to know about why I’d be miserable there.

Image: Alex Shuper for Unsplash+ (Unsplash+ license, used with permission. 3D render, not AI generated.)

The take-home assignment is by far the best test of a programmer’s hard skills, but it’s also a huge time sink that rarely results in helpful feedback.

I’ve turned in take-homes that I spent 8–12 hours on only to get completely ghosted by those companies. Unfortunately, that’s common.

Some companies shy away from take-home assignments, because few candidates will actually have the time to complete them.

In general, using a “formal” take-home (typically a “4–8 hour” GitHub project that actually requires more like 16–24+ hours of work) will reduce the number of candidates by 90%.

Only 10% will actually turn them in.

That’s why they’re amazing if you’re a candidate: take-homes reduce competition and let you show off your specialist programming skills.

Take-homes aren’t perfect, however.

Here’s why you have to be careful about the technologies required for the test, at least if you’re interested in finding a job that’s a great fit.