Having had to go through public interview processes (i.e. not being approached by the company or referred) recently for the first time in a while I can't agree more. Take home assignments are fine _after_ an interview. Companies that send you a take home assignment before they want to talk to you are a waste of time and quite frankly, it's rude and shows a lack of respect. The ultimate insult being not getting back to you even though you scored the maximum on their silly CS undergrad tests.