I disagree in part with your take on it - mostly with the idea that the hiring person expected to "spend the day" on the problem. I don't have a problem with working on open source or production code for 1-2 hours. But a whole day? If an employer asks you to work for free for a full day before hiring you, what does that tell you about how they value their employees' time? It tells me that they don't value it at all!
All programmers expect (or should expect) to have some demonstration somehow/somewhere. OP offered to demonstrate his skills but the hiring person was locked into their way of doing things (our code, our way, your time). The problem with this particular company is that they expected a whole day (or that's how he paints it at least).
All programmers expect (or should expect) to have some demonstration somehow/somewhere. OP offered to demonstrate his skills but the hiring person was locked into their way of doing things (our code, our way, your time). The problem with this particular company is that they expected a whole day (or that's how he paints it at least).