I would find it far easier to persist in my job search, as I expect would many others, were my interviewers to avoid needless cruelty. "I'm sorry but we are un

I would find it far easier to persist in my job search, as I expect would many others, were my interviewers to avoid needless cruelty. "I'm sorry but we are unable to offer you a position" while unpleasant to hear, is at least what I expect when I don't get a job. Just last week I was given a 24-hour challenge test. As I had to take an early morning call from a potential client, I chose to get some sleep rather than staying up all night to work. I did complete the challenge, with beautiful C++ code and a couple dozen unit tests. Unfortunately they had a test that I did not, so my code tripped an assertion. The CTO emailed me to say "According to the rules of our process, the conversation ends here". I'm dead certain he did not even look at my source; one of his engineers ran the test. Most coders don't know what assertions even are - expect most HN members do, but not coders in general - and it is uncommon for C++ coders to write exception safe code. This company has been advertising the position for months. Why was it so important to stick to "the rules of our process"? Even if it was so important, did he really have to say "the conversation ends here"? I don't have a problem with whiteboard tests but this was actually the very first time I've so much as attempted a challenge question outside of the interview. I'm going to bill them for my time; if they don't pay I'll take them to small claims court.