A prospective employer had me solve a rather difficult(for me anyways) algorithm problem. In their instructions they say it should only take a couple hours and if you spend more than that just submit what you have. It ended up taking me more like 6-8 hours to find a solution. I think someone would be pretty much auto-rejected if they submitted a non complete solution. Anyways, I passed their first round and then they give me a 30 minute phone interview which consisted of a 10 minute code in a browser over the phone section which I did not pass and was given a rejection e-mail soon thereafter.<p>I then shared my solution to the algorithm problem on github. I'm still looking for a job on and off and it's my only project in c++. A couple months later someone from the company e-mails me saying other people have submitted my solution to their problem and asking me to take it down.<p>Should I comply? I feel like I don't owe them anything after I spent 10 hours for them and never even got to meet anyone face to face. I think they should create a new problem instead of re-using the same one. It's a lot of work on their end every time, but I don't think they really realize how many hours of prospective employees time they are wasting and I should be able to use it in my portfolio.
You're in the right to leave the code online as a part of your portfolio so long as you didn't sign a contract with them and they didn't pay you for the work.<p>You should, however, not include their company name in your code or descriptions.
Well, if I were the company, I would use that information to automatically reject applicants who submitted your solution. Makes it easier for the company to filter down the applicant pool. I think there are only a finite amount of questions you can use for technical screens and eventually all the solutions to those problems will be posted. There has to be a better way for companies to interview potential applicants. Sounds like a good business opportunity since they are wasting engineering time with these type of technical screens.
Why not ask for compensation? If it took you 6-8 hours and is so good work that other applicants submit your solution, then you should get paid for giving it to them.