Also don't you have an onsite technical interview process that you use to assess the candidates abilities which invalidates any need for online coding tests?
If you can't answer yes to these questions. Unfortunately you are part of the problem.
Of course I have to trust the candidates that they made the homework themselves, but if you don't start on a trust basis that would be a really bad starting point. There's still probation to make sure they're a good fit. I'm investing a lot more work into vetting when it's an overseas candidate compared to local, but mostly to make sure we don't put someone on the street, because I didn't do my job properly.
I do have the experience, and have the code to show. Why would I be subject to a "homework"?
This process objectively discriminate against people with enough age and experience, but don't have the time outside work. Even just not having the will to do a "homework" is an enough reason to pass.
Are you hunting for young eager engineers who can put the most to self proving, or a diverse experience base?
I am not suggesting anything against your process, but highlighting the shortcomings.
I would probably pass your interview process directly.
I've allowed myself to become old. I'm well past 40.
Most of the time, rejections come within a couple of hours of submission, so I know that a "robo-scrubber" detected eld, and bounced my résumé.
It's actually funny. I see a position advertised, where I am a 100% fit, I submit a CV, and get a bounce within an hour.
Then I see the position still being advertised weeks later.
I have considered adding the following line to the top of my LinkedIN profile:
"Let's just get this out of the way: I'm over 40. If that's a problem, then let's not waste each others' time."
I REALLY don't want to work anywhere that I'm not wanted. I have the rare privilege of being able to do more or less what I want. I love coding. I'm an outstanding manager, but I don't love it.
It's just not gotten to that part. In some cases, a decent salary would have been required in order to support a move to a higher-cost-of-living area, but it still would have probably been surprisingly low.
As a manager, I made a pretty decent salary for a long time. I would not expect that, as a coder.
I have received a few rather direct answers, and once was privileged to be accidentally CCd in an email, discussing my age.
It's illegal as hell, but hard to prove, and not worth it. If you make a big deal out of it, you blackball yourself.
This kind of behavior has been rampant in the finance industry for decades. It's still crazy as hell, with 25-year-old kids running billions of dollars worth of other people's money through virtual slot machines, while acting like drunken frat boys.
When there's money to be made, people will look the other way. Check out the industries where there's not a lot of money to be made, like social service or education. You will see people being keelhauled regularly.