Maybe I'm weird but I kind of like the take-home assignments. I find them pretty fun and not at all stressful like a whiteboard interview. And I've never not go

Maybe I'm weird but I kind of like the take-home assignments. I find them pretty fun and not at all stressful like a whiteboard interview. And I've never not gotten an offer this way because I think there's a lot less variance (whiteboard style interviews you might get asked some random BS that you don't figure out). IME you also often get paid (albeit a relatively small amount) for doing them. And FWIW once they want to hire you many employers will actually spend hours trying to sell you on joining. Usually not in the form of an essay, but doing several hours of sell calls or lunch meetings with different people at the company is not that strange (especially if you are higher level).