[msellout]

Does any other profession have a Kaggle? Imagine a more general contest: build my company a tool that increases our market value by X%; we'll give the winners $Y and a job interview. The expected value of participating is $Y/n, where n is the number of participants.

It's like the opposite of a professional organization. I suppose the libertarians approve. It drives down the cost of labor and therefore might make the market more efficient. Yet I'm suspicious.

I'd like to propose a counter-organization. Analysts can band together and offer a contest. We collaborate to create a tool that gives your company an X% increase in value. Companies bid for the rights to that tool. I'd expect that the value to the laborer would be greater than $Y/n. I guess that just described a consulting company.

Perhaps the situation is not so unique. Art also provides much value in the act of production and many organizations hold art contests similar in design to Kaggle competitions. Open-source software often doesn't even have a competition sponsor.

It'd be ludicrous to imagine holding a contest to offer the best legal advice or diagnosis. I'm not saying that I agree with the restrictions that the American Medical Association has placed over the ability to attend medical school, but the free market is harsh enough competition.

Kaggle does promote the value of the field as a whole. I worry that it commoditizes rather than professionalizes.