On your last point, the best alternative I've seen is take-home projects where it would take less than a week to complete. The interviewer is free to frame a problem in a way that allows the engineer to apply their real-world experience and show their fit for the job. It removes all the variables around interview stress/anxiety and as a result is a better (but not perfect) indication of their performance.
> On your last point, the best alternative I've seen is take-home projects where it would take less than a week to complete.
Ironically, take-home interviews are another contentious topic on HN and other internet message boards. The common complaint is that people don't want to invest much of their personal time into interviewing for companies.
If I were interviewing I'd take a LeetCode over take homes any day of the week. Preparing for LeetCode prepares you for nearly 70% of the jobs you will likely interview at.
Whereas with take homes the amount of time doing say 12-take homes can easily be too much. You end up in this weird positions where you can only devote so much time for certain take homes but with the LC & System Design you can at least prepare once and hit up a bunch of companies.
I refuse to do take-home interviews. My time is valuable, and it's important that the company I'm applying to shows its seriousness by allocating interviewer time to interviewing me.
