[qudat]

> Some people spend an entire week on the coding challenge, which really set the bar unrealistically high.

Simple, cater the challenge so that's not possible.

Some companies are just bad at conducting interviews, that's the real tell and not take-home challenges.

I've had terrible in-person technical interviews, but I'm not going to reject the entire concept of in-person technical interviews because I've had a couple bad experiences.

If someone doesn't want to participate in a take-home coding challenge then that's their prerogative, but not everyone thinks they are a bad idea. If I were requesting a take-home challenge and a candidate I liked said they will not proceed if they have to do one, then I would probably make an exception. But that's me working at a startup where I have full interview control.