Yes, the nice thing about it being a desktop app is that all interview platforms are supported - browsers are unable to detect these desktop apps due to inherent limitations. There's a bunch of competing services so it's likely your candidates were running something.
I was laid off at the start of 2024 and built https://interviewsolver.com which is an AI copilot for helping you with your leetcode interviews. Doing about 6k/month, though the space is becoming fairly crowded.
Interview Copilot for helping you ace your live coding interviews. Desktop app + companion web mode so it's truly undetectable by interview platforms, controlled by global hotkeys.
Canadian here, just signed an offer (Not FAANG) for ~360k TC, 30k of that was negotiated up based on advice from this patio11 article. The opportunities are out there, especially now that companies are going remote.
By all means donate your n95 and surgical masks, but many studies show that DIY masks are nearly as effective in stopping asymptomatic spread so the messaging should be around asking everyone to wear a (DIY) mask when they go out.
Your local HAM radio group isn't being infiltrated by social justice activists. Tech orgs don't need a CoC and have functioned mostly fine since the beginning without them. CoCs are pure entryism (the most famous example being Opalgate).
Consider this line from the CoC:
>Comments that reinforce systemic oppression related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neurodiversity, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion.
Why even include the line 'reinforce systemic oppression' ? I guarantee that the CoC won't be enforced against someone saying stuff like "Kill all men" or "white men are garbage". They're a tool for expelling anyone who doesn't kowtow to social justice ideology.
One of the most widely used CoCs - Open Code of Conduct -specifically has a section about not accepting complaints regarding ‘Reverse’ -isms, including ‘reverse racism,’ ‘reverse sexism,’ and ‘cisphobia’
This reminds me of when the James Damore news first broke out and multiple Google hiring managers were openly bragging on G+ about maintaining blacklists of everyone who didn't denounce the diversity memo.
mattmcknight's comment addresses one of the reasons.
I think another part of it is a lack of understanding of what developers actually do - people perceive developers as manual laborers that just type stuff into a computer based on what a higher-up has designed/created. They attribute the actual creative/engineering output to the manager.
It's also a low-paying job in a materialistic society. There's a feedback loop of Low pay -> no respect -> low pay that's hard to break out of.
One cultural factor is the fact that developers have a low social standing in China (sometimes referred to as 马工). This leads to low pay, reduced dating pool, lack of respect from people you meet etc.
Consider the way things were before Thiel showed up. Gawker destroyed lives[1] with impunity because their victims didn't have deep enough pockets to fight back in court. Thiel is just leveling the playing field.
I don't think Blizzard is a stranger to the esports scene. Every single one of their current game offerings has a competitive scene with the exception of diablo 3.