Prized developers aren't going to participate in many coding-contest-as-hiring-lottery situations unless they're just really interested in the problem.
For a competent developer, a "cover letter brainteaser" that takes an hour to do is essentially equivalent to a $100+ application fee (in terms of opportunity cost).
I actually haven't applied to Google specifically because they require at least 6 interviews. Maybe they wouldn't want me anyway, but we're certainly not going to find out.
For a competent developer, a "cover letter brainteaser" that takes an hour to do is essentially equivalent to a $100+ application fee (in terms of opportunity cost).