Senior developer here. I've been on both sides of the process. Firstly, let me say that I hate the idea of take-home tests. I don't consider myself particularl

Senior developer here. I've been on both sides of the process. Firstly, let me say that I hate the idea of take-home tests. I don't consider myself particularly woke, but it seems obvious that forcing people to find a two hour slot in their personal lives to produce their best code for a throwaway project, which may not even get them the job... that's going to discriminate against parents of small children and those caring for loved ones. Statistically speaking, females and BAME applicants will suffer more. So if you feel you have to offer this, always allow a path for people to opt out (WITHOUT them giving you a reason. Just don't.) And as an applicant, if you feel this part of the process is going to be difficult for you due to your circumstances, always ask the question. How they treat your request will be one of the best benchmarks you can get of whether the company's equality and compassion policies have teeth, or whether it's just lip service. That said, for some people it does work. It makes it easier to determine a person's skill level. It weeds out those who can't code or don't have any experience of best practices. So when I had to quickly find myself a new job recently, I was asked to do a couple of take-home projects. Knowing that the roles all had an element of knowledge transfer and mentoring, I set up a screen recorder (with audio) and narrated my solution. It felt completely weird. It was totally unnecessary. But it meant I could watch it back with fresh eyes, and see whether I justified my decisions well, whether I explained myself cogently, and what I would do in the future. So no, don't be insulted by the process. Use it to your advantage.