Sorry you got ghosted like that - it happens way too often and it sucks. But I think you're using your understandable frustration with this company to dismiss a

Sorry you got ghosted like that - it happens way too often and it sucks. But I think you're using your understandable frustration with this company to dismiss a highly-effective interview technique. Programming is largely solo work punctuated by a high-bandwidth communication (presenting your solution to the team, review, etc.) A take home assignment with a follow up simulates the actual job environment, especially for remote work. No other coding interview technique comes close - portfolio review doesn't show how you worked only that you've worked, in-person coding challenges and whiteboard interviews are so far removed from the daily experience. 2kloc / 6hrs does seem excessive though. My advice to interviewers - keep the exercise time-boxed to 2 hours (And actually have some developers work through it internally to confirm this!) "How far can this candidate get on the problem in 2 hours" is a better signal than "Can they build the perfect solution with unlimited time". And time boxing the assignment gives you lots to talk about - "If you have more time, what would you add or change?" is a prompt that should yield another high-value signal.