[ravenstine]

> You can talk about the problem, and you know they've got some (time) skin in the game.

Perhaps it's better than being ghosted on a take home assignment, but am I the only one who thinks this is crap as well?

It sounds great on paper, for sure. But in my experience, talking about a problem ends up being like talking to a tree trunk. They say "we want to see how you'd work with us", but when I try and engage the interviewer (without asking them for the answers, obviously), I almost always get blank stares and it's super awkward. Even if I just speak out loud as I'm reasoning things, it's still weird as hell.

Yes, it could work if the interviewer was skilled at playing the role of a collaborator, but almost none of them are. Don't tell me to do a task as if doing teamwork on the job without even faking the teamwork part.

To your point, think the advantage is that they can't ghost you or overwork you that way.