[ryanianian]

The consulting shops get a hefty cut of the pay (and it's hard for them to find and place talent too), so they feel compelled to do everything they can to make things work. Not to say these things aren't patronizing/infantilizing and due to be shut-down, but until the supply/demand situation works itself out, we'll likely just replace one weird attention/talent-grab gambit for another.

Another possibility would be for these companies to just pay more and "cut the crap". If companies paid more, there would be more talent on the market (presumably) and companies wouldn't need to put on the dog-and-pony shows to attract and retain because the economics are doing that for them.

(And of course there are people who like the dog-and-pony shows and the 'un-corporate' vibe of these things. Power to them, but at least personally it would be nice for the "cut the crap and pay more" idea to be more common.)