 The best programmers do apply.  Whatever you think a work-hire test is, that wasn&#x27;t it.  A work-hire test attracts the best programmers.  It doesn&#x27;t repel them.  It&#x27;s a chance to demonstrate their skill.  It&#x27;s also far better: anything is better than the fake contests they&#x27;re currently forced to endure.  Which would you prefer?  Spend a couple hours remotely fixing some bugs and adding a feature on a fake iOS app, or spend all day playing &quot;dodge the bias&quot; for a hit rate of ~60% at the cost of a vacation day?<p>Why do you think the programmer from your article didn&#x27;t get a job when you &quot;sat back to watch him get a job&quot;?  You didn&#x27;t tune your test to what the company was looking for.<p>Any YC founders who are reading this:  Refuse to talk to Triplebyte until they set up a work hire test for your company.  Force them to do it, and force them to work with you to tune the test to the work you need.  You will get a 100% hit rate.  And you&#x27;ll notice something else:  Your retention rate will go way, way up.  Want to not deal with firing people?  Get them to show you they can do the work.  Nothing else matters.<p>The test needs to be set up so that the candidate can demonstrate they can do exactly the same things all other employees do on a day-to-day basis, or it&#x27;s not a work-hire test.