Yes. I think you are seriously underestimating the intellectual capacity of those people. Telling them "it doesn't matter how nice it is, or clean it is, or g

Yes. I think you are seriously underestimating the intellectual capacity of those people. Telling them "it doesn't matter how nice it is, or clean it is, or generic, or reusable, or maintainable, it is just to see if you can do basic introductory level code" solves the problem. Anyone who still stands there like a moron writing nothing is useless as a developer, regardless of the reason they stand there.