[nfriedly]

I don't know. On the one hand, I get that "work for free and maybe we'll hire you" is going to block quite a lot of otherwise qualified applicants.

On the other hand, I've seen plenty of worse ideas around hiring. At least this will result in some positive impact on the world.

I'll also give them credit for requesting contributions to other companies Open Source products rather than just their own. There was one company who I had actually done some free Open Source work for in the past. When I contacted them about an open position, they essentially told me "that past work doesn't count and you need to do more free work on our newer platform we'll consider hiring you". That was a serious let down.