The problem with take-home assignments isn't how long they take - it's how many you end up doing. Resume-to-offer attrition rates are often as high as 99.9%.

The problem with take-home assignments isn't how long they take - it's how many you end up doing. Resume-to-offer attrition rates are often as high as 99.9%. In-person interview-to-offer attrition rates are rarely worse than 90% and often in the 30%-50% range. The thing about homework is that it costs companies basically nothing (one form email followed by an automatic grader in some cases), so they can afford to give it as early as possible - strictly by the numbers, this means offers cost on average 1000x8 hours. Whereas in the in-person interview case, the big cost is much later in the process, so it's more like 10x8 hours per offer. Worse yet, this cost falls heavier on developers that have more trouble getting jobs, who are probably less likely to be able to weather that cost. Not a great situation.