I would not apply. Besides the fact that I don’t want to spare half a working day unpaid, I find it worrying that implementing a feature on an unknown code base without any kind of collaboration with co-workers before or during the implementation step is considered normal in that company.
I’m not a fan of pairing all day, but coding tasks like these always seem to assume that it’s normal to not talk to other experts in the team, and that asking for advice or brainstorming on solutions or pitfalls is the exception.
> that implementing a feature on an unknown code base without any kind of collaboration with co-workers before or during the implementation step is considered normal in that company.
Isn't this collaboration? They've identified the codebase that needs changes, so it's not unknown to the company, just to you. They've designed the feature. They'll review your work in 3 hours.
I don't want to work at a company where it's not normal to get simple half day tasks with enough detail that you don't need further communication. I want to work independently, not be stuck communicating all day.
as a rule of thumb, I think the person doing the implementation should be part of the analysis. And as a second rule of thumb, I think it should be avoided to let someone dive into a completely unknown code base alone, at least when we talk about implementing new core features.
I’m not advocating communicating all day, but I think coding exercises like these miss the very important collaborative aspect of coding.
I would also not try and find a drummer for my band just by listening to them drumminggor three hours, instead I would like to see them performing a bit with other band members.
