Problem is, many companies are only playing interviews.
When you want to hire people who gets the job done it is no harder than:
1. Please tell me about a project you have done, a sw book you read, a hard bug you solved, really anything you like about computing etc.
2.a (This guy seems smart) Let's discuss compensation and you can start your probation period asap.
2.b (This guy is not smart nor passionate) Thank you for coming in, but we don't want to hire you.
edit: I used this method with great success, imo programming exercises are just an indirection that only adds noise and loosely correlates with on the job performance anyway
Exactly. Also you have no idea what kind of cultural fit you're having if you only rely on technical skill. And besides, why do you want me to solve $problem? Take a look at my portfolio and public code - it's telling enough.
My employers don't want me open-sourcing the work I do for them, so this only works if you open-source your side projects.
I see a lot of comments here about how they would never waste their time on an exercise like this, but a small project for the purpose of an interview can probably be done in less time than any of your public projects.
When you want to hire people who gets the job done it is no harder than:
1. Please tell me about a project you have done, a sw book you read, a hard bug you solved, really anything you like about computing etc.
2.a (This guy seems smart) Let's discuss compensation and you can start your probation period asap.
2.b (This guy is not smart nor passionate) Thank you for coming in, but we don't want to hire you.
edit: I used this method with great success, imo programming exercises are just an indirection that only adds noise and loosely correlates with on the job performance anyway