[pnathan]

> What are some things you'd worry about a company like this doing that would increase dance-monkey-dance factor?

Not the OP, but anything where a recruiter can go look my rating up, they will. And then that becomes a positive signal, increasing the speed of the rat race, because to be "hip", you have to do the N+1 things. Blech.

If you want to reduce the "dance" factor, have a sheltered tunnel from Starfighter to the first day on the job. Don't have it be a pipe to the tech interview, don't let it be a pipe to a recruiter's desk, don't let HR do anything but verify employment eligibility. Seriously.

[tptacek]

Microcorruption player identities were totally private. There's no way for a recruiter to look someone up, unless they used a very-identifiable username. Privacy is important to us.

How would you imagine the bizarro-world third party recruiter that would emerge from something like Starfighter could interoperate with employers to shield you from the kind of BS you're concerned about? We're interested in ideas!

[pnathan]

I would suggest Starfighter Recruiter, LLC have a contract with a VP, CTO. Something to the effect of...

"We provide you the names of people interested in your fine company, along with our certificate of credibility. You in turn agree that the interview process will be entirely on the intangibles[1] of interpersonal relationships, career goals, etc".

Along with that would be a rider that would involve Starfighter Recruiter LLC taking liability for providing a measurably crappy candidate, as well as disclaimers all around relating to intangibles.

Personally, I don't really want to futz around with long-winded negotiations and alpha male chest thumping. I want to demonstrate my capability, discuss my career goals and interests, and verify that fine hiring company is actually a reasonable place to work that meshes with me and my career aspirations.

[1] I.e., candidate is a loud-mouthed jackass that can't work with anyone, but can pass any technical challenge with flying colors.

[bearclough]

I think if it leads to higher quality job leads than that would be great for many people. I find personally with response rates to cold drops of a resume being around 75%. The amount of time shifting through positions I don't want >> than pursuing those that I do.

The great employers don't require to much chest thumping and I've had some down right fun interviews. I question the culture of a company that uses a CTF game as a metric to hire people. People who play and succeed at CTFs tend to be hyper-competitive and thats not always a wonderful characteristic in a team member or company.

Thats fair, after reading some of your comments above. I believe you don't intend this to be more work for people. And, I believe hiring on both sides of the equation is a non trivial problem.

[tptacek]

We used it at Matasano and had a diverse culture of people --- many with families --- with a variety of different personalities and personal styles. Beware of attribution error.

The underlying idea here isn't speculative. We used it at Matasano, and it was extraordinarily effective.

[pnathan]

It's certainly the case that I have never personally have desired to do the ACM competitions, as they, IMO, reflect neither CS aptitude nor software engineering capability. I always chose to do my homework, sleep in, or fool around with my own interests.

But it did seem from the outside that those doing ACM competitions were the upper echelon of the school.

Perhaps a CTF situation would be similar. We can only see what unfolds.