Before even speaking to Hiring Manager, I was asked to complete a homework based on some vague requirements. Problem #1 - how would I know if this is something I want to pursue? Is it worth my time without knowing what position entails?
Well, I guess this is not uncommon in our industry after all. Myself personally I reviewed many dozens of similar "HomeWorks" in the last 10-15 years.
I know exactly what to look for and how to interview candidates based on their submissions. Software I wrote over the years has served tens of millions of users in the US.
They rejected my submission and stopped all recruiting activities. And there was problem #2 - they never shared any feedback.
The lack of constructive feedback to a candidate after he spent significant time on this project indicates:
a) Disrespect to candidate. If they do this to candidates - most likely they do this for employees as well.
b) Reviewers have no credibility in terms of technical proficiency. If they think something was wrong in the solution, or perhaps they didn't comprehend some aspects of proposed code - why don't talk to candidate for 15 mins or at least provide few sentences back?
The logical answer here is easy – they don’t know this stuff; they have no credibility. I can't even imagine what their codebase looks like.