Introduction to the Take-home Assignment

In this lesson, we’ll break down the following aspects of a take-home assignment:

• Purpose of take-home assignments
• What to expect
• Types of questions
• Time commitment
• When to choose to do a take-home

Purpose of take-home assignments

Take-home assignments demonstrate execution. They help you prove your technical ability, problem-solving skills, and ability to translate your thinking into action.

Startups are more likely to give you take-homes because they are much more concerned with execution.

What to expect

The assignment might show up in one of two different stages:

1. At the beginning of the interview loop to filter out lots of candidates, most of whom usually don’t complete this work. This is more common.
2. At the very end, in the form of a presentation given to an interviewer or panel. This is less common.

Types of questions

Most often, you’re given a dataset and a directional task (e.g. “Improve the business”), but there are more and less defined versions of this challenge. Much more often than not, you will at least be given a dataset.

The image below distinguishes the different types of take-home assignments (defined task vs. open ended), where you’re likely to receive them, and what you’re evaluated on.

Time commitment

A take-home interview usually takes several hours (4-8), but it can take a bit longer (1-2 days). If this is not explicitly stated, try to clarify expectations with your interviewing team. It can take 30-50% more time than your interviewing team will tell you it does.

Choosing to do a take-home

While doing a take-home assignment is typically considered a positive sign of interview progression, here are some settings where it might not make sense for you:

1. You’re fairly senior and have a strong track record.
2. You’re in the middle of several interviews for other roles, so putting a lot of time into this exercise might limit your ability to show up strongly for the others.
3. You’re not given a clear sense of what comes after the take-home. If you’re investing hours into this work, you should know what the rest of the process looks like.

If you’ve chosen to proceed with a take-home, we’ll cover what makes for great output in settings where the task and dataset are defined, as well as settings where they may not be.