I'll second that. When interviewing for jobs recently the sheer volume of tasks being handed out to prove I can program was a real problem - I work five days a

I'll second that. When interviewing for jobs recently the sheer volume of tasks being handed out to prove I can program was a real problem - I work five days a week, my wife works Saturdays and I look after our son. That leaves an hour here or there available in the evenings (when I'll do a bad job because its 10:30pm), or taking a chunk of time out of the only real time we get together as a family. If you apply for say 4 jobs and they all want 2 hour work samples you've just taken on an entire extra work day to apply for jobs. I can't even just take a day off work and batch them because of the way applying for jobs works. Honestly, I don't know the right answer. From the other side of the table I like this approach because it lets me assess how someone thinks about solving problems and writing code, but its just reinforcing a culture where only young people without any real responsibilities outside of work can get into the industry.