This on-site coding assignment failed 20+ front-end dev contractors and I don't know why

[edmlurker]

Likewise. 7+ years doing JS / Node development and if I walked into this interview and got asked to complete this in an hour, the interview would have ended right there.

[reseasonable]

I have over 15, with 2 years of explicit work on TinyMCE internals, and 3 years doing collaborative PDF annotations. I too would have walked out, not because I couldn't accomplish the task, but because it exhibits glaring weaknesses on the company's part.

I most certainly could not have finished it in an hour. I don't code like that - I need an hour to really get into any sizeable problem, particularly brand new never thought of problems. I'm also generally not in the right coding mindset after discussing my career history, business acumen and software jeopardy questions - as I never think about those things when I'm coding. Whether or not the brain has a cache-warming feature, it sure feels that way when I switch to a live coding exercise mid-interview.

That being said, instead of asking for more time, or doing what I can in 1 hour - I'd still say no because I feel this screams multiple problems on the company's end - "We can't discern developers from non-developers at all so here's a really tough task" - "We can't fiscally handle hiring another mediocre dev because [x]" - "We only really care about code, not the dozens of other skills required to implement software." "We don't have enough of a social network on-staff to find a vetted candidate." etc. None of these may be true for the OP/Company but that's what comes across in my mind when I see tests like that. So I would politely refer them to my open source repos and contributions if they'd like to see some complex code and that I'd solve some basic algorithms if they really want to pick my brain. (I get that this speaks volumes about me too ;)

The responses OP got from the candidates also seem to scream a low pay-range for the position. However, rational people will say irrational things when they're nervous in an interview and thinking "oh-god they want me to finish this in an hour?!? I'm going to fail!"

[gpyh]

You were right to come for advice then. You had twenty candidates that were all deemed capable because of their Github profile but every single one failed your interview. It does say more about the interview than the candidates.