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This. This. This.

Everyone thinks they can interpret their tests perfectly. Ultimately, the candidates are likely better off. The coded message here is not that they didn't use obvious design patterns but that they didn't code in the way the employer wanted. Which...I suppose is a perfectly fine reason to pass on a candidate.

Also, I would love to see the quantitative evidence that the value of the design patterns in maintenence are. My guess is that in fact this is a random assertion made by a single engineer.

I'm just sharing my experience as it relates to the article, no need to be inflammatory. Take home assignments are a pretty common assessment tool and many candidates prefer it to getting grilled on DS/Algos on a whiteboard.