> Companies asking me to spend 2 or 4 or 8 or 16 hours on a take home quiz before I’ve so much as had a 15 minute screen with HR or the hiring manager go straight into the trash.

Companies handing you 16 hour assignments without a phone screen should indeed go straight into the trash.

I've spent a few years volunteering on and off in an interview prep help mentoring program. For as much as everyone likes to talk about these "16 hour take-home without ever talking to the company" these extreme scenarios almost never come up for discussion.

Everyone comes into the prep group thinking that's how their job search is going to look. A few people apply to small, scammy companies who try to do these things but you have to be blind to miss the warning signs.

For the most part, all of the take-homes that people either share directly or talk about are nowhere near the 10-40 hour take-homes that everyone on the internet likes to complain about. I've seen a couple people share them, but it's not normal at all.