We’re a very small team with little experience in hiring but got approval for a new engineer. Basically HR will look for people through the usual channels and I think we have a reasonably good job description. Unfortunately the coding challenge (a 30h+ take home) is atrociously difficult and doesn’t really reflect what we do. On the other hand I think the false positive rate would be low. FWIW it’s a Linux application and it might be difficult to only count on experience from the CV.
Any ideas how to build a good challenge from scratch and what time constraints are reasonable?
I’ve only ever had one job ask me to do a homework style challenge and I thought it was weird and off putting.
I have a full time job, and a family, and a lot of other shit going on. If you give me homework I’m not going to bother with your company.
I feel like giving out homework in a job interview is a good way to filter out anyone who is busy being gainfully employed already, and leaves you with a weaker pool on average to draw from.
Sure there are some stinkers out there, but if you can’t suss that out in an interview that’s on you.