[garyjlin]

Yeah we generally discourage users from using Litebulb as a "weed out" exercise, first of all because we just don't agree with that practice as a principle, and second because Litebulb is a terrible pre-screening filter. As a pre-screener, the only people Litebulb would filter out are the good devs that have options. ie: if I have companies A, B, and C that I want to check out and C needs a multi-hour take home before I even talk to someone, you can bet your ass I'm not applying to C.

That's not what Litebulb is for though, we're mid/late funnel. As a candidate, if I have to choose between a 4 hour onsite or a 5 hour take home, I'm probably going to do the take home.

In terms of pay, I know some really good companies with a healthy eng culture and heavy pay that do take homes (not as a pre-screener, for sure).

Btw from my experience, resumes are a pretty weak indication of skill. I have interviewed people with 15+ years of experience, some at MAANG, that couldn't comprehend basic systems infra scenarios, and I've interviewed interns that had production-grade code. You need to actually try it out, one way or another, to be sure.