Ask HN: Help me avoid take home interview questions

Take home projects are actually a great way to see what a candidate will really work (Sorry for the deliberate bait) but they're extremely time-consuming in the aggregate, and serve no other purpose. I've got to be really interested in the job, but it's hard to tell because you're usually asked to do it before coming in for an interview.

Any suggestions on a demo project that hits many areas of interest for a full-stack web developer? Massive bonus points if it would help out some community. Some skills I've seen enough that they probably matter: - Front end javascript graphical challenges. - Back end parse an api stuff - Testing / Specs - Algorithms (Binary search trees seem to be popular) - SQL - demonstrating knowledge of how to do various joins, in particular.

So long as the skill is marketable, it's fair game. I'd love to use this as an opportunity to learn/give back, rather than just show-off.

(Side note: I'll be in SF June 23-28, and am looking for very senior roles. I'll munge my linkedin profile to try to appease the capricious HN Gods: linkedin.com-in-jeffdeville)