After an initial phone interview I was asked to complete a hiring exercise. The exercise was estimated to take 8 hours from the description, which could be accurate depending on how much research and detailing in design one does. Initially I was told to have it ready by the following Wednesday, but was emailed a day or so later (on Friday) asking if I could submit it by Sunday. I was nearly finished so it wasn't a problem. I promptly submitted the assignment.
Over 12 weeks have passed and I never heard back. I found that entirely demeaning and disrespectful to ask someone to commit their time to such an assignment and not even be given a "thank you, we've gone in another direction" email. I have always believed that the consideration an organization shows you in the interview process is probably their best efforts, and once hired you can expect less. I will certainly avoid future prospective opportunities with NTC.