Possibly, but the applicant in this case was clear: they would stay firm on their principles regardless of the outcome.

I’d hire them again.

As Dan also mentions in the article, there was some privilege at play here. The candidate had built up enough career capital and enough of a personal safety net that they could afford that kind of equanimity in the face of pressure to conform to a process.

Their letter came along with pointers to the fact that we could already see their work, and anything they did on the challenge would be broadly similar — so if we didn’t like the portfolio, the challenge work wouldn’t change anything.