The best code challenge I was given was to build an infinite scroll implementation. The company gave me an API endpoint that spat out JSON, and my assignment wa

The best code challenge I was given was to build an infinite scroll implementation. The company gave me an API endpoint that spat out JSON, and my assignment was to create a page that would show the items and render more items from the endpoint when you scroll down to the bottom of the page. I was given no time limit. They just said "send us the code in email when you're done". I was allowed to use anything I wanted. I finished in about 6 hours. Most of the time was spent going through the bajillion endless scroll jquery plugins (99% of all jquery plugins are total crap). It was fun for me, and I was allowed enough time to polish up the code to get it looking like code I normally write. Now if I ever want to implement infinite scroll in any of my personal projects, I know how to do it. The worst code challenge I was given was by a company that basically gave me a huge dump of data (a 60 line string in a very peculiar format) and told me to write a function that took the data, processed it, then outputted that data in another peculiar format. I was given one hour to complete this assignment. It was tedious and in no way fun, so I just didn't do it. I probably could have gotten it, but I don't like doing things like that. If the interview contains high-stress speed coding, then I can only assume the job contains the same. No thanks. Good developers like to take their time, so don't timebox (at least not in units of hours, a one week deadline is fine). Also, good developers don't like doing tedious things. Give them something meaningful to do, not just busywork.