The problem with the rise of the homework approach though, is that unlike you, most companies don't treat it as an alternative to whiteboard leetcode interviews

The problem with the rise of the homework approach though, is that unlike you, most companies don't treat it as an alternative to whiteboard leetcode interviews. They treat it as an addition to the whiteboard leetcode interview. It also doesn't scale. The assignment is for one company alone, so if you get rejected, that's time spent down the drain. As heinous as leetcode interviews are, the effort spent grinding leetcode can scale massively horizontally.