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Take-home and code review

iOS take-home assignment

A take-home is graded like production code a reviewer will read, not a puzzle to brute-force. Restraint and clarity beat over-engineering.

How to approach it

Scope tightly to what the brief asks and resist adding features to look impressive. Structure the project so a reviewer can navigate it in minutes, with clear layers, meaningful names, and no dead code. Write a short README explaining your decisions and trade-offs: what you prioritized, what you skipped, and what you would do with more time.

What reviewers reward

Tests on the core logic, even a handful, signal a production mindset and let the reviewer trust your code. Focus them on the parts most likely to break. Readable architecture and honest notes consistently outscore clever abstractions. If you took a shortcut under time pressure, say so; transparency about trade-offs is exactly the judgment the exercise tests.

Go deeper than a summary

Share Your Screen works topics like this through in full: 82 solved Swift problems with tests, 9 case studies (one real round, eight composites), and 7 annotated mock interviews, so you rehearse the live round instead of just reading about it.

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Frequently asked

How much time should a take-home take?

Respect the stated budget. If none is given, aim for a focused submission you can finish in a few hours rather than a sprawling one that signals poor scoping.

Do I need tests in a take-home?

Yes, at least on the core logic. Tests demonstrate a production mindset and give the reviewer confidence in the code.