Arjun Mehta ·
On take-home assignments: agree the time budget before you start, and stop when you reach it
If the brief says four hours, spend four hours and write a short note about what you would do next with more time. Candidates who spend twenty hours polishing a take-home are not rewarded for it, and they set an expectation about their boundaries that follows them into the job.
If a take-home would take more than a day, it is reasonable to ask for a paid engagement or a live session instead.
#takehome#interviews
Join the discussion on OnJob
What is the Interview Preparation community?
Practice, debriefs and honest feedback across technical, system design and behavioural rounds.
See all Interview Preparation discussions →More from Interview Preparation
- On coding rounds: narrate your reasoning before you type
- Once you have an offer, the balance of the conversation changes and most candidates do not act on it
- If you do not know something, say so and then say what you would do about it
- Interview nerves respond to rehearsal far better than to reassurance
- Write your debrief within an hour of the interview, while you can still recall the exact wording of the questions
- When asked about salary expectations early, answer with a range and a basis