I'm considering a new job that I'm actually excited about, but I've hit a snag with their take-home assignment. My background is in low-level engineering, specifically HPC modeling and simulation alongside some signal processing, and I was aware that this role wouldn't strictly align with that. The assignment they sent me looks like this:
"Please write code to download the current dataset, store the data server-side, create APIs for data retrieval, and provide a UI to analyze things like word count per department, historical changes over time, and checksums for each department. Additionally, add at least one custom metric for better decision-making."
This seems like a comprehensive task, which they expect to be completed in under 6 hours without any prior setup. Given my experience, this feels unrealistic, and I'm wondering if I'm overreacting or if they expect me to rely heavily on tools like LLMs to complete it. It certainly seems a lot for someone in a different technical space like mine.
5 Answers
Honestly, if it was me, I’d just use Django with a database to tackle this. I think I could crank something out in about 2 hours generally, but that's after quite a bit of practice. Just be honest with them about your process.
Honestly, this feels more like a full project than a take-home assignment. You'd likely need a few weeks to do it properly, especially for something that sounds like it should be production-ready. It’s steep to expect someone to complete this in just 6 hours without compensation. It seems like they might be looking for free labor here.
I'd suggest going for a mix of automated code generation and some hands-on tweaking. A strategy of about 70% using tools and 30% manual work should help you balance the time pressure with your skill set. Tools can actually make such tasks quicker these days!
That's a solid plan! These methods are pretty common now, especially for speeding up development.
I agree with the main point here. This assignment is definitely not reasonable in the allocated time unless you're super experienced with frameworks like Django. Even if it can be done in that framework, rushing through it won't ensure quality.
Using frameworks like Django does help a lot, but still, this task seems a bit overwhelming for the timeframe given. Just remember, it’s okay to ask the company for clarification about expectations. Communication goes a long way!
Yeah, it really does sound like a red flag. They might be trying to get their project done without hiring someone. Just be cautious!