The disconnect probably stems from types of job. You say you can get the same experience from contributing to open source, so it sounds like the job you have in

The disconnect probably stems from types of job. You say you can get the same experience from contributing to open source, so it sounds like the job you have in mind is pretty much just a consultant gig, i.e. “here is your assignment, write the code” — that is not exactly the type of job I had in mind when involving giving a day of my time to find out if the job is a good match (for both parties).