It totally depends on the work sample they ask you to do. If no thought went into it then you are correct. If, however, a company devises an interesting project

It totally depends on the work sample they ask you to do. If no thought went into it then you are correct. If, however, a company devises an interesting project to work on it show they also put some energy into this. Most importantly though I like programming, but I don't like speaking up in front of a group of strangers, so 6 hours of programming is much more enjoyable to me then even just 1 hour of interviewing.