[kasey_junk]

First, let me say, that I view take home coding exercises as a fundamental basis for a good hiring process, as such, I do those with no reservations.

That said, when I encounter one of the oodles of bad technical questions that exist out there, I will frequently ask the interviewer what precisely they are trying to judge and how this particular question judges that. I ask that, because I am unquestionably interested in developer hiring pipelines and I am actively trying to learn about them. Usually, this leads to a discussion that acts as a proxy for what they really want to know, but I make it a point to say how much I do not like these kinds of questions.

The thing is, you can't change someone else's hiring practice. But chances are, if they are engaged in asking questions like that, they have not designed or standardized the pipeline (if they had, it becomes obvious how stupid those questions are). If you are working with a non-standardized, ad hoc process, expressing yourself clearly and professionally is usually enough to get through it (this isn't a good thing).