> I have discontinued multiple interviews because they demanded 4-5 evenings of work for free on short notice, if I am going to spend 10-20 hours per company I have to take two weeks off from my current work to do it.
Honest question: Would you feel differently if these companies had 1-2 days of onsite technical interviewing instead of take-home problems?
In practice, I rarely get pushback from candidates for our 4-hour take-home problem. We provide clear instructions about expectations, constraints, and boundaries. All candidates have thanked us for allowing them to work on their own time in their own coding environments.