Uber's luring engineers with 'Code on the Road' game
Uber is trying to recruit engineers using a fun little coding game that pops up for some riders in some cities, the company has confirmed. Screenshots and reports of the game started cropping up on Twitter in recent days, and the company has since clarified its purpose for "Code on the Road," saying it's a brief way to test someone's coding skills and, potentially, find a new team member.
Attention was largely drawn to the new game after Joshua Debner tweeted out screenshots of the app. He said in a tweet, "Uber is now offering coding questions to potential candidates while you're in an uber. How did they know I code?" The game image itself teases that Uber is on the lookout for potential new hires, reading, "Want to put your coding skills to the test? Flex your hacker skills for a change to chat with the Uber team!"
Uber is now offering coding questions to potential candidates while you're in an uber. How did they know I code? pic.twitter.com/W2zn8bmouy
— Joshua Debner (@jdebner) March 25, 2016
Debner is an engineer working for Microsoft in Washington — he said on Twitter that he was taking an Uber in Seattle when he saw the feature. In a statement to Business Insider, Uber confirmed the game's existence and said it is a new way to try and find new talent for the company's team. The company is pushing out the game to riders in certain regions where tech jobs are high and, therefore, has high odds of catching engineers during their rides.
The company isn't targeting people specifically — it was just lucky chance and careful geographic placement that landed the game on Debner's phones. If a rider passes the quiz, they're giving a button that lets them send their results to Uber, which in Debner's case resulted in an application link being sent to his email address. As well, the quiz appears more of an attempt to make someone realize Uber could be a place to work rather than any legitimate test of one's coding knowledge.
SOURCE: Business Insider