Jeff probably has enough "internet fame" to get away with asking folks to audition with a longer project and get good results.
Personally I'd be happy with anything that should take less than a day to do, but giving folks access to a pre setup client that has RDP or SSH setup would make that a lot less painful. A week is a bit too long.
I'm currently looking around for a new job and I'm being fairly picky about what it is I want to do, my biggest pain point is getting time to actually interview. My own personal preference would be a couple of phone interviews, then an audition project followed by something face to face. By then it seems likely we're going to get on so taking a day off is worth the effort.
Finally as someone currently looking around salary is something I'd like to at least potentially discuss relatively early on (or at least check we're both in the same ball park) I'm going to ask slightly high but caveat that with a statement saying that I'm potentially flexible for the right job (I like your problem domain, it will look good on my CV, you're offering equity etc).
I agree with you on the general workflow of an interview process. Phone screen or two, programming assignment (not 1 week though), face-to-face, etc.
I need to get better about the salary thing. I've gotten several offers from companies (even YC companies) in the last year, and each time we're just not in the same ballpark. I think a lot of it just has to do with equity. Startup CEOs treat their equity as worth a lot of money, but at the end of the day, I can't use my equity to pay my rent. So unless I really, really, really believe in your company's ability to dominate in that problem domain and/or exit successfully, your equity just isn't worth the pay cut for me...
But that's another discussion entirely.
I, too, am picky about what I want to do. I want to solve real problems. I don't want to reinvent the wheel with yet-another-message-board (sorry Jeff). I want to save the world. I want to do something meaningful. And a lot of these startups I see around here are solving what I consider to be superficial problems. Yet another ephemeral chat service. Yet another Instagram. Yet another subscription clothing service. Zzz.
If Elon Musk called me up and asked me to come "audition" for SpaceX, I'd probably do it. That's an exciting enough field and opportunity that I'd spend a week of my free time to get it. If a company that was building out tools for combating malaria called me up and asked me to audition, I'd probably do it. Or updating farming with 21st century technology. Or engineering a way to purify water for pennies. Or... well, any number of what I consider "epic" problems.
But that's another discussion, too. :)
I totally just went off on two different tangents. Whoops. :)
Personally I'd be happy with anything that should take less than a day to do, but giving folks access to a pre setup client that has RDP or SSH setup would make that a lot less painful. A week is a bit too long.
I'm currently looking around for a new job and I'm being fairly picky about what it is I want to do, my biggest pain point is getting time to actually interview. My own personal preference would be a couple of phone interviews, then an audition project followed by something face to face. By then it seems likely we're going to get on so taking a day off is worth the effort.
Finally as someone currently looking around salary is something I'd like to at least potentially discuss relatively early on (or at least check we're both in the same ball park) I'm going to ask slightly high but caveat that with a statement saying that I'm potentially flexible for the right job (I like your problem domain, it will look good on my CV, you're offering equity etc).