If I am hiring this sounds great. I get a test of programming skills before I invest any of my time and effort. And, the final step validates that you can abso

If I am hiring this sounds great. I get a test of programming skills before I invest any of my time and effort. And, the final step validates that you can absorb, learn from and apply leading edge academic findings and also talk about your work in an articulate way. If I am on the other side this sounds very one sided. Automated tests are hard to do in a manner that is really fair and doesn't make too many assumptions. Also it seems like committing 3 high pressure testing hours before anyone from the company has even chatted with me about the position seems very odd socially. The only way this would make sense to me as the applicant is if the job was at a highly reputable organization with compensation above market rate. And, even then I would interpret the high time commitment from me prior to even the most casual conversation and indication of interest and fit from their side as a potential red flag of corporate arrogance.