[siquick]

> That's actually exactly the kind of skill I'd look for in a new hire. I don't care which crunchy items you list on your resume so much as your ability to learn and integrate new technical information quickly (as well as a host of other skills, of course).

Of course, but asking someone to spend a lot of hours on this in a week, with no guarantee of a job at the end of it is not a direction this industry needs to go. People have full time jobs, and parenting/carer/community responsibilities.

I was hired for a job a couple of years ago which required a lot of work on a new framework I had never touched before, and rather than the interview being around the framework, they gave me a month of full time employment to get up to speed - on the understanding that if it just wasn't clicking then we would both walk away with no hard feelings.

[anonytrary]

> Of course, but asking someone to spend a lot of hours on this in a week, with no guarantee of a job at the end of it is not a direction this industry needs to go

I have never seen this from any serious employers. If someone is asking you to do this, then go work somewhere else. Employers are expecting that you learn on the job.