[porcoda]

Exactly. 25+ years in tech here too. When a company says "we're going to give you homework", that is a giant flashing sign that basically reads "we assume your resume is a lie, your references are lying for you (or we just aren't going to bother calling them), so we're going to test you". Hard pass.

Having been on the hiring side of things, I get far more information out of a conversation where I can ask for details about someone's background and experience.

[devoutsalsa]

I got my most recent job offer by talking to the hiring manager & a couple engineers for about two hours. They grilled me on talking points I’d fed them in my CV, along with some questions I couldn’t have prepared for. No coding, no take home exams. It was pretty great.

[jollybean]

It's impossible to gather someone's competence from a resume or even in a conversation.

A 4hr assignment is generally a really good way to gather competency.

That said - it's just 'too much' of a hill for senior devs. to bother with and there are probably some ways to do 'regular interviewing' in order to figure that out.

I have hired a ton of Engineers and I've found a lot of senior engineers to be particular, crusty and a bit weird: excelling in some ares, but cantankerous in other ways.

But yes, 4hr hr take home is going to be a barrier.