I applied for a Senior Software Engineer position and was asked to complete a take-home assignment as part of the interview process. I spent a significant amount of time completing the task properly. Beyond the basic requirements, I also deployed the sample application to the cloud and recorded a demo video to clearly walk through the implementation and architecture. After submitting everything, the process dragged on for nearly two months in total. Communication was slow and minimal, and there was no meaningful feedback regarding the assignment. Eventually, I was informed that they had decided to move forward with a "better candidate". What made this particularly frustrating is that it felt like the work submitted was never seriously reviewed. Given the level of effort expected from candidates, the lack of engagement with the submitted code suggests the assignment may simply be a filtering mechanism rather than something the team actually evaluates carefully. For a senior-level role, this kind of process reflects poorly on the company’s engineering culture and respect for candidates’ time. Asking engineers to invest significant effort without providing feedback or timely communication is unprofessional. Advice to management: If you require take-home assignments, respect candidates’ time. Review the submissions properly, provide technical feedback, and avoid dragging the process out for months. Otherwise, you risk discouraging capable engineers from engaging with your hiring process in the future.