I don't understand this. No company is so special that I would be throwing away hundreds of hours in pointless meaningless work every few months just to join them! Unless I'm in need of a job again.
And whats the big deal even if I join them after six months, I'd be working to maintain some code, fix bugs and may be occasionally do a big important project.
Its not like they are sending Neil Armstrong to the moon all over again that I would like to be a part of this history.
After being invited twice for Google interviews, I mean really invited by their HR, not me applying for them. On both occasions I failed the process with their stupid questions.
I started replying to their HR, if I am so good to be invited but on their eyes unable to devise a inode search algorithm for unlimited hard disk sizes with a specific set of hardware and search time constraints, over the phone interview, then why couldn't they just please stop inviting me!?
That was the last time I heard from them and I don't care a bit about it.
Curious -- was this problem reasonably related to the kind of work you'd be doing in the role you were applying for?
Or did they just want to find out if, you know.... you had that "spark"?
Yeah, they always say that -- but it's never really true.
They should just be honest and say "If you don't finish the project in time -- then don't feel bad, but perhaps the test isn't right for you, at this time. Feel free to apply again in 6 months."