The take-home that took me a week and got ghosted

Yesterday I created this topic. Today I am writing the story that is the reason it exists. It is 1 am and I am still a little angry about it, two years later.

Series B fintech. Recruiter call went well. Then the take-home arrived: "should take 4 to 6 hours". The brief:

• A payments reconciliation service with a REST API
• Unit and integration tests
• Dockerfile and docker-compose
• A README with design decisions
• "Bonus: a small UI to view mismatches"

I logged my time in my spreadsheet (yes, I log everything). 31 hours over 7 evenings. I did the bonus UI because I thought it would make me stand out.

Submitted on a Sunday night. Monday: "Thanks Kunal, the team is reviewing!" Then nothing. I followed up after one week. Two weeks. Four weeks. Nothing. Three months later the same job was posted again on LinkedIn with the same description.

Bhai kya hi bolu. Scene was bad.

My rules for take-homes now

1. Ask how it is evaluated and who reviews it before starting. If they cannot answer, that is the answer.
2. Ask for a time box. If it is honestly more than 4 hours, ask whether it is paid or whether a live pairing round can replace it. Good companies say yes to one of these.
3. Time box yourself and write a "what I would do with more time" section in the README. Reviewers respect judgement more than gold plating.
4. Put it on your GitHub (unless they made you sign something) so the week is not wasted.
5. Follow up twice, then move on. Your energy is better spent on the next application.

Post your take-home stories here. Question types and time spent, please, not the exact assignment. Let's at least make these weeks useful for the next person.