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Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

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Re: Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

#11
post #3

Not too shabby. Was pretty trivial to do with Safari's developer tools, actually. I submitted this as my resume: http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/...

Hmm, did you modify the session cookie? Because that is _not_ trivial with Safari developer tools.

Edit: Removed potential spoilers.

Re: Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

#12

Waaay too easy...honestly, I'm not tooting my own horn. But I guess it would keep the lazy applicant from applying. EDIT: on second thought, maybe it is the right level. They aren't likely looking for $100k+ hacker geniuses, just guys who can think outside the box and know how to do basic digging and prevent your typical hack. I retract my statement. Clever application process.

[deleted]

Re: Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

#13
Regarding whether or not it's too easy...that's something we wondered about. We decided we wanted a relatively straightforward initial screen rather than an complex brainteaser.

So I would by no means liken this to the Greplin Challenge, but we're trying to accomplish something different. We're hoping to eliminate the crappy applicants so we can spend more time on the good ones.

Re: Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

#16

Regarding whether or not it's too easy...that's something we wondered about. We decided we wanted a relatively straightforward initial screen rather than an complex brainteaser. So I would by no means liken this to the Greplin Challenge, but we're trying to accomplish something different. We're hoping to eliminate the crappy applicants so we can spend more time on the good ones.

After I initially overreacted about it's simplicity, I saw the point more clearly. In fact, the more I think about it the more I loved it. (from your business's standpoint)

Whenever I've been apart of interviewing candidates, ≈70% of the time was wasted on applicants who fluffed their resumé, got an interview, and were obviously not what they claimed to be. This would probably significantly reduce that overhead and at the same time attract people who enjoy coding vs. do it just to pay the bills.

Re: Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

#17
post #11
post #3

Not too shabby. Was pretty trivial to do with Safari's developer tools, actually. I submitted this as my resume: http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/...

Hmm, did you modify the session cookie? Because that is _not_ trivial with Safari developer tools. Edit: Removed potential spoilers.

No spoilers! :o)

Re: Henceforth, All Job Applicants Must Hack Into Our Backend (Dev Challenge)

#19

Regarding whether or not it's too easy...that's something we wondered about. We decided we wanted a relatively straightforward initial screen rather than an complex brainteaser. So I would by no means liken this to the Greplin Challenge, but we're trying to accomplish something different. We're hoping to eliminate the crappy applicants so we can spend more time on the good ones.

I think that you may have erred on the side of too easy. I have very little web development experience, but I was able to solve it in a few minutes. I didn't even use any developer tools.
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