Passing the Dreaded Data Science Take-Home Challenge

When i'm looking to hire an engineer, the main signals i'm looking for are:

- can this person do the job (can they actually program and think about things in an abstract way)

- is this someone i'd want to work with

- if they're lacking one of the above, are they open to feedback and able to learn and grow.

Takehome assignments arguably only solve the first part of this and as a result don't give you a ton of signal about whether or not someone is good or bad. Also, once they're standardized and out there on the internet, their inherent value becomes diminished as it becomes an arms race to detect plagarism.