[dLuna]

I think that the code challenge was mostly aimed at students, where the time spent writing something semi cool is not just wasted time. Having been on the hiring side for software developers at Klarna I have seen too many people in interviews that can't "write a function that counts the number of words in a sentence, in any programming language". So having something that measures your competence pre-interview is good.

When I got hired by Klarna I never had to do any programming. I had actual code out there in the wild that I could point to.

Getting to the interview stage at Klarna is easy. Getting an actual job offer is harder.

(Btw. If you don't like IQ tests then don't look for a job at Klarna...)

[sunkencity]

It might have been the recruiting agency that was at fault at the number of tests. I had to do the IQ test there and some sort of introductory programming test. All done and well, but then I was hit with this rather comprehensive programming test or whatever that had to be done in Erlang (I learned later I could have used any programming language). I just didn't feel it would be worth my time.

A friend who is a really smart guy got in touch with a recruiter from google during his last year at the university doing his PhD. At first it seemed interesting but when he saw how much time the recruiter expected him to put in for interviews and tests he wasn't so interested any more and continued his career in academia instead.