
Are you capable of pink box testing? - alaskamiller
http://neilbowers.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/pink-box-testing/
======
tptacek
It's a good idea, seeding job reqs with nonsense requirements (I'd do
something more believable, though). A much better idea: never using
recruiters. You will get luckier on Craigslist.

~~~
dgabriel
I'm not sure I would apply for a job with nonsense requirements in it.

------
lsc
most body shops don't add value

Yet companies still insist on using them. I don't understand why. At one
company, I was a contractor. I was leaving for another job, and they needed
someone with my skillset. Well, I had a guy who was suitable working for me at
the time, and I offered to rent out my employee at a below market rate. They
refused. Well, I moved to my new gig and my side business slowed down, so when
the recruiter who got me this contract gig called me asking for
recommendations, I referred the guy who was working for me (I wasn't exactly
paying him a fair wage, and even at the poor wages I was giving him I didn't
have many hours of work for him) Anyhow, the company hired my guy through the
headhunter (and liked him for more than a year) - but they paid twice as much
to go through the body shop they liked rather than going through my
corporation. It wasn't like the body shop was big... it was some guy running
the operation out of his front room, just like my corp.

------
deathbyzen
When I first read the headline I thought the article would talk about
phreaking because they have a bunch "some color" boxes.

<http://www.aboutphone.info/lib/phreak/boxes-2.html>

------
umjames
I wonder if that's common of consulting agencies. That would explain the
triumvirate of crappy consultants that we had at work. I guess a way to combat
it would be to publicize consulting agencies that are guilty of that sort of
thing.

------
iigs
Yes but my wife frowns upon it.

~~~
zenspider
Can you not? Please?

I'd prefer YC's comments not go the way of Digg or Reddit.

~~~
iigs
Yeah. Sorry about that. I generally revise my comments if they're too
confrontational, negative, or inane. That one was set up perfectly, though. I
fully expected to come back to my computer to find my first net-negative
comment.

FWIW, this was my second highest comment and second most replied-to comment
since I joined. In both dimensions this comment lost to my first comment which
1) was a reply to PG, 2) invoked the "hi i just registered here" sympathy
upmod and 3) invoked "boo reddit/digg" sentiment in this parenthetical
comment:

 _(I'm a recent reddit lurker, and as reddit continues to become digg my
clicks seem to be heading elsewhere)_

So, I agree with you fundamentally, but it looks like that's not how things
are going to play out, if my first lets-be-a-jackass comment scored so well.

Perhaps there's some middle ground?

Everyone has their limit, but I'm not offended by a little risque humour
(obviously), and it doesn't seem inappropriate for the site so long as it's
not explicit or vulgar. My primary beef with reddit is that as an "all things
to all people" site the front page is filled O LOOK A LOL CAT ITS A CAT WITH
FUNNY WORDS [pic], and the comment threads are filled with semi-predictable
reply chain puns.

I'd love to read consensus (esp PG comments) for style guidelines for this
site. I'm a geek and a trendy comp-sci field dabbler, but I'm not building a
startup, despite my desire to be an entrepreneur, and I'm definitely not in Y
Combinator, so I have a pretty good idea where my opinion lays in the grand
scheme of things here.

All articles being about tech/hacker interest seems 100%+ sensible. If the
style guidelines are "No empty humor comments, period. Startups are Serious
Business." Then perhaps I haven't found the right community fit for myself
(hey look a startup idea!).

~~~
mattmaroon
Eh, don't sweat it, he just likes to play neighborhood watchman here
apparently. Some people aren't content to just vote, they have to impose their
will on others.

There's nothing wrong with mixing in a little humor. It's been awhile since I
read PG's guidelines, but I don't remember a ban on it. I don't think your
joke broke the bounds of civility. It's a little blue for sure, but not NSFW.

A joke here and there (even an off-color one) is FAR from turning this site
into Reddit or Digg. I started surfing those for the first time a week or two
ago just to see why everyone here complains about them, and wow is this site
worlds apart (in a good way). I was actually shocked at how Reddit links are
often so editorialized that I can't even guess what will be there when I click
through.

------
lsc
body shops offer a degree of protection from contractors who later decide to
sue for employee status, but I don't think that makes them worth it. I mean,
your liability there is usually less than 50% of what you paid for the guy (if
the government thinks you were paying an employee as a contractor, you have to
pay the employer portion of SSI and unemployment insurance and other benifits,
for the entire time the guy worked for you.) It's bad, but that's about what
most body shops charge, and it's fairly rare for a contractor to come back and
sue for employee status- but even if you had to pay those fees for every
employee, I think you are still coming out ahead doing it yourself over paying
the body shop.

I've not met one headhunter who was capable of distinguishing between someone
who is technically good and someone who is not. Granted, it's a hard problem-
but it also requires a whole lot of domain specific knowledge. Knowledge that
headhunters usually don't have.

------
brm
Someone should also write a post about the stupid but real requirements that
get put into job postings

------
thwarted
link is dead/site is down. just says "not site admin" or some such.

------
newt0311
I should point out that not _all_ contracting agencies are like that. Quite a
few of them don't fabricate candidate's CV and some even have their own
technical screening procedures.

------
cosmo7
I did pink box testing and, boy, it's exhausting.

<http://www.pinkboxjapan.com/> [NSFW] (sorry)

~~~
boredguy8
NSFW - four little letters that make life a lot easier for everyone else.

