Forget uploading resumes or filling out forms on some job board. Backend-as-a-service company Parse is inviting potential hires to apply via its Parse API. In what initially looks like an added barrier to entry, the company is hoping its cheeky and geeky move will attract the sort of developers who think in JSON.
All that’s required is your name, email address, a message describing why you’d be a great fit and an array of URLs. Oh, and be sure to set the Content-Type as application/json, but I’m sure you’d have done that by habit, right?
In a highly competitive market for developers, is Parse making it harder for people to apply? For the right fit, the company might be making it easier.
For those interested, you can see the details of the application process or read our overview of Parse.
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26 Responses to “Jobseekers Invited to “Apply Via API””
at 3:01 pm
This is a fantastic idea. Kudos to Parse for thinking outside the box.
at 3:39 pm
I’m tempted to apply for this even though I’m not looking for a job!
at 3:43 pm
It’s a brilliant idea – and so incredibly simple to implement for any developer worth anything at all that it’ll weed out unqualified entries without being a major barrier to entry. And it’s fun. Nicely played!
at 4:23 pm
Great idea right until someone publishes an article with the url
at 5:02 pm
Those who leave interviews in a huff when asked to answer programming questions will undoubtedly be stymied.
at 5:10 pm
@kevin you’re obviously not one of the programmers they are looking for if you think this post has let the cat out of the bag…
at 5:36 pm
Alas, though they’re trying to be geeky, they fail to recognize the difference between PUT and POST. If the item is getting updated when another post is done, that should be a PUT.
Sigh: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/630453/put-vs-post-in-rest
at 5:44 pm
I think Parse is pretty clear in their mind about the type of person that they want to hire. Given that, this is a great idea. Even if the programmer has not done this before but learns how to do that and ends up submitting it — its a win-win for everyone.
at 5:53 pm
[...] Jobseekers Invited to “Apply Via API” This entry was posted in ネット and tagged API, JSON, ハッカー, 技術, 求人, 転職 by [...]
at 6:42 pm
@Mike: Well yes and no. If you really wanted to go RESTful then doing a POST to /jobs/applications would submit your application, you’d get a URL such as /jobs/applications/a5Ld94Dc in a Location header, and you’d PUT to /jobs/applications/a5Ld94Dc to update your application. POST is not guaranteed to be idempotent, but it doesn’t mean that it _can’t_ be idempotent. In this case, we’re not POSTing to the resource URL (the /jobs/apply URL represents all applications, not just ours) so we can’t use PUT. POST can be used for pretty much any non-GET use, but PUT must only be used on the resource URL itself.
at 7:27 pm
@Mike: /jobs/apply is not a resource. Apply implies an action (a REST resource would be /application or /jobs/application ). So, POST is appropriate in this case imho.
at 1:00 am
@Mike – I think they’re right to use POST because there’s only one URI shared between everyone.
PUT works “on” the URI, POST works “under” the URI. Since there’s only one URI for everyone, PUT would (pedantically) only store the latest application from anyone (update of an existing resource identified by URI). POST, on the other hand, creates a new subobject for the URI and thus stores everyone’s application distinctly.
at 6:31 am
Guys, can you guys confirm if the page is down?
https://www.parse.com/jobs/apply
@ 9:30 am on Feb 3rd ?
at 7:59 am
You killed their api. Maybe they need to hire someone with higher-scale api development.
at 8:22 am
Dang! getting a 406 network error..Anyone in the same boat?
at 9:41 am
You do a PATCH to update guys. PUT usually implies a file.
at 10:07 am
Ruby gem for applying for jobs via API in 3..2..1…
at 11:09 am
spam them!!!!!
at 9:35 pm
[...] Jobseekers Invited to “Apply Via API” [...]
at 4:24 am
rjp said: PUT would (pedantically) only store the latest application from anyone
This could be used to ensure that you are the only applicant for the job and, hence, be the best (only) person for the job. However, you’d have to keep re-PUTting in case anyone else had the same idea.
at 7:35 am
inb4 DDOS
at 1:50 am
thought of writing a simple HTML form to automate the application process :P
but the page is down !!!
at 8:25 am
Nice idea, but loses all kudos by using Comic Sans
at 12:01 am
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at 6:11 am
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at 3:57 pm
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