Take home tests

Don't take every piece of rejection feedback as gospel. But don't ignore it either.

I hear people say they were rejected for x, shrug it off as bad luck and move on. The reality is most companies send a templated rejection email and never tell you the real reason. So you have to read between the lines.

I've also heard complaints like these:

• I did everything they asked
• I got told they would have liked to see X but it wasn't on the list of things to do
• I wish they would just say exactly what they wanted to see

These are red flags (yours, not theirs). Take home tests are signal tests, not checkbox tests. Every choice you make communicates a judgement call. Naming, readability, responsiveness, tests and most importantly prioritisation.

Don't optimise for minimum compliance. Optimise for professionalism under constraint. That's what reviewers are actually looking for. Show them you can make smart tradeoffs when time is limited, because that's exactly what the job looks like.