How the Recurse Center redesigned its application to attract curious programmers
By
nicholasjbs
Slow-proofed and worth the wait. Worth its weight in flour.
Summary
The Recurse Center redesigned its application process, drawing inspiration from the Oxford All Souls Examination papers. The new application features open-ended, thought-provoking questions designed to inspire curiosity and attract programmers who enjoy deep thinking and exploration, rather than just testing technical skills.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledWhen we began rewriting the RC application earlier this year, I was very much inspired by one of the best question sets I've come across: the Oxford All Souls Examination papers.
They give a choice of one or two questions from a few lists of many fascinating rabbit-hole-openers, which range from abstract philosophical problems ('What is life?') to open-ended thought experiments ('Should anonymous posting online be forbidden?') to more practical future-oriented questions ('Is style the last refuge against AI?').
Changing our application was a little scary, because it d
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