My favorite interview experience of all-time was essentially a two day contract. The company listed a couple of simple tasks in their codebase that didn't need

My favorite interview experience of all-time was essentially a two day contract. The company listed a couple of simple tasks in their codebase that didn't need a lot of context to complete. And there was no pressure to complete all of them — it was simply, pick a couple that you think you can accomplish over two days. I put up a few PRs, then a final assessment was a discussion that was essentially, "Now that you've seen our codebase, what are your thoughts on how we could improve our architecture, etc.?" I was paid for my time as well (because I was legally able to accept payment at the time). I think that's actually a larger hurdle — companies that disallow contract work that prevent engineers from getting paid for this type of interviewing, although I suppose it's in their best interest.