Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

jobs.wibidata.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 81 posts

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#71

Post by rhizome »

ruswick wrote: post #63
rhizome wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"XBox on site," says to me, "we're (hiring) young people."

It sort of irks me that people assume that 1) all young people play prodigious amounts of games to the point where an X-Box is some sort of alluring factor, and 2) only young people play games and that gaming is a way to differentiate between ages. I am young, and I would be put off by this sort of thing. If the most appealing part of your company is that you have an X-Box, you're doing it wrong.

It's not so much "XBox" as a specific device, but of the lifestyle and time that younger people are more likely to pour into their early jobs. They're simply more receptive to a job-includes-hobbies lifestyle. This doesn't prevent older people from participating in this world, but statistics would tell us that more older people have children and non-job hobbies. Frankly, as an older person who owns a PS3 and Wii, it tells me that not only do they want hanger-outers for employees, but ones that play specific kinds of games.

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#72

Post by mieubrisse »

mephi5t0 wrote: post #38

Some people don't like video games, prefer sports, like skiing... Some people play Settlers and/or Civilization or turn based strategies... They won't be able to react or move quickly in Portal. It's like saying - we will hire you but you need to BUY and DRIVE this motorbike through this hoop of fire... And person don't even have driving license. Not to mention they were busy building that hoop of fire instead of mak…

As others have pointed out, you can just submit your resume without playing.

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#73

Post by caw »

madaxe wrote: post #67
sramsay wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"you shouldn't underestimate the power of an open mind." I'm not sure your ideas are quite as bold and radical as you think. In fact, I would say that you're merely repeating the common liturgy of the industry. Young tyros are more "creative" than seasoned veterans. Caffeine addled youths have more exciting ideas. They have fewer preconceptions. They're more nimble. They're in it for love of the game. What I'm asking…

I see it as true because it's a repeatable experiment. I haven't argued that my ideas are bold or radical, merely fact - and nor have I argued that this differs from common liturgy. Neophytes are indeed more creative than seasoned veterans, as they haven't condemned their minds to a single, myopic track of thought, as many, and in fact most, do. "PL/SQL is the only structured query language compliant with the PL/SQL…

> Neophytes are indeed more creative than seasoned veterans > I'd be happy to be disproven, but until then, I'm equally happy to treat what I find to be a valid theory as fact.

I thought for a while what is best to say, but perhaps I'll just go with a counter-example: Intel. The founders were around 40 when they started the company, and experienced in their industry. Not the 25 years mentioned above, but I'm taking that as a hyperbole.

If it takes a young, creative individual to create a 1 billion pound company in 6 years, what does it take to make a 54 billion dollar company in just over 40 years?

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#74

Post by dsil »

eric-hu wrote: post #61

Has anyone downloaded the mod and tried it? I'm curious why they use this mod for recruiting, though I don't own Portal 2 and I'm not interested in applying to Wibidata. What the video shows of the gameplay and puzzles are what I'd expect from Portal 2.

I played through it. There's 5 "tests", and it took me about 2 hours, though now knowing the solutions I could play through again in probably 15 minutes, so it just depends how long it takes you to figure them out.

Overall they're very good levels. A good bit more difficult than the base game, and most of the other user-created levels I've played. I was a little surprised that a couple places were more about reflexes than brainpower, since I assume they're looking for good problem solvers rather than good first-person-shooter players. But in general, very good puzzles implemented very well.

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#75

Post by kstenerud »

eric-hu wrote: post #61

Has anyone downloaded the mod and tried it? I'm curious why they use this mod for recruiting, though I don't own Portal 2 and I'm not interested in applying to Wibidata. What the video shows of the gameplay and puzzles are what I'd expect from Portal 2.

I tried it, but it seems to have gotten stuck after I read the email =/

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#76

Post by daeken »

scrumper wrote: post #56
jtbigwoo wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe I'm just a boring old mid-40's fart. That's part of it, right? I assume that all these silly requirements and hoops are really saying, "We want the best of the best as long as you're under 30."

They do tend to come with things like, "Benefits: monthly mountaineering trips, and we spear-fish for team sushi lunches once a week," which are perhaps slightly more appealing to young singles than the over 30s. Certainly this 'boring old fart' would rather get home to his family at the end of a long day than spend even more time comparing haircuts with a bunch of yippy twenty-somethings.

> Certainly this 'boring old fart' would rather get home to his family at the end of a long day than spend even more time comparing haircuts with a bunch of yippy twenty-somethings.

I'm 25 and fully agree. While in my case it's not getting home to my family, it's having time to have a decent work-life balance. I spent years doing nothing but startup work, and I'll never go back to that, no matter how much equity is thrown at me. At the end of the day, I like being able to sit back, relax, and hack some stuff, write some music, and spend time with my friends; I don't need work to provide those things for me.

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#78

Post by CWIZO »

I think all of you are missing the point. They might have done this to create a filter that would weed out people who wouldn't fit. But, I think the main point was to attract as much attention as possible to the fact that they are hiring. "Free" advertisement.

This thread proves they succeed beautifully.

Re: Startup using a custom Portal 2 level to recruit engineers

#79

Post by madaxe »

caw wrote: post #73
madaxe wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see it as true because it's a repeatable experiment. I haven't argued that my ideas are bold or radical, merely fact - and nor have I argued that this differs from common liturgy. Neophytes are indeed more creative than seasoned veterans, as they haven't condemned their minds to a single, myopic track of thought, as many, and in fact most, do. "PL/SQL is the only structured query language compliant with the PL/SQL…

> Neophytes are indeed more creative than seasoned veterans > I'd be happy to be disproven, but until then, I'm equally happy to treat what I find to be a valid theory as fact. I thought for a while what is best to say, but perhaps I'll just go with a counter-example: Intel. The founders were around 40 when they started the company, and experienced in their industry. Not the 25 years mentioned above, but I'm taking t…

Corruption.
Post reply on HN