[minimaxir]

> to write good code for these projects, it can take me upwards of 8 hours.

The good data science take-home assignments I've done suggest a 2-3 hour limit and they were correctly scoped for that limit, although technically there's no incentive for the candidate to stick to that limit.

The worst take home I did suspiciously did not have an expected time limit (but was due in 48 hours after issuing). It was extremely broadly scoped, and as a result it took 16 hours; even after a couple years as a data scientist now and familiar with time-saving tricks, it would still take 8 hours minimum if you weren't already familiar with the company's data.

[tombert]

Even 2-3 hours is pretty high, expecting me to spend $100-150 of labor for it.

16 hours is kind of insane and you have my sympathies. My record is around 10 hours.