The article has a bit of a weird structure. The premise is that homework is abusive. And the final bullet points elide the exceptions to this rule... which seem

The article has a bit of a weird structure. The premise is that homework is abusive. And the final bullet points elide the exceptions to this rule... which seem broad enough to make the premise weak. Using homework as a first-pass screen in your interview process, unchecked, is definitely a smell that you're not using this tool appropriately. However I use it in the process I've set up successfully as a way to give me something to code-review with a candidate when we do a final interview. It's a small, limited scope project. We give plenty of time to finish it. And the chances are good if you complete it we'll give you a final interview. I find it helpful because I don't have to make assumptions about the candidates knowledge and skill level from a cold-start. I can ask them questions based on their code. How did you interpret this requirement? What trade-offs did you consider when you chose this data-structure? Etc. If their code shows an aptitude for computer science fundamentals I can ask them questions about algorithmic complexity in Big-O notation or I can scale it back and see if they understand the same concept using more descriptive means. Conducting an interview is hard if you don't have a starting point for a conversation. For more experienced candidates with a history of open-source work do consider allowing them to present their own code in place of your standard homework assignment. It has the same effect and shows that you respect them enough to review their work. I think that's rather nice.