I've taken a different approach to the audition -- I have something that would take a developer 8 hours to do: something that we do in the core product, but, in an entirely different context.
For example:
"At LowBudget Brands, we provide reservations, customer support, front desk software, and backend support for property owners who want to own a successful hotel brand. A large portion of our travelers may not know which television station to turn to or have their smartphone or other device know set to the local weather, so, LBB wants to build a solution that:
-> Provides Hotel managers to create an account that allows them to set their property number and zip code
-> Queries Weather Underground to determine the three and five day forecast for that zip code
-> Generates a single page .pdf file with that content
-> Mails the hotel the day's weather at 3 in the morning.
"
If you've gone through the interview process, we know that you have experience with API's, background tasks, and PDF generation...or two of the three. I pay a flat rate of $200 for this task, and then we throw it away once they're either hired or we decline.
We provide a Vagrant file and an amazon t1.micro instance if that's easier, and that's proven to suit our needs rather well...
1. Its realistic. It has a customer and it has needs.
2. You're prepared with the resources needed. [You've thought about this before]
3. You're willing to put your money where your mouth is. I get the feeling that many of the lengthy coding tests or auditions are nothing but timewasters for punishing a new applicant.
4. It sounds like a weekend project/take home exercise.
For example:
"At LowBudget Brands, we provide reservations, customer support, front desk software, and backend support for property owners who want to own a successful hotel brand. A large portion of our travelers may not know which television station to turn to or have their smartphone or other device know set to the local weather, so, LBB wants to build a solution that: -> Provides Hotel managers to create an account that allows them to set their property number and zip code -> Queries Weather Underground to determine the three and five day forecast for that zip code -> Generates a single page .pdf file with that content -> Mails the hotel the day's weather at 3 in the morning. "
If you've gone through the interview process, we know that you have experience with API's, background tasks, and PDF generation...or two of the three. I pay a flat rate of $200 for this task, and then we throw it away once they're either hired or we decline.
We provide a Vagrant file and an amazon t1.micro instance if that's easier, and that's proven to suit our needs rather well...