Linux Systems Software Engineer

Candidate completed Canonical's mandatory multi-page written essay detailing academic history back to high school and personal philosophy prompts. After passing the psychometric logic evaluation and two technical screens, candidate spent 4 hours packaging and patching an open-source Linux kernel package. The recruiter acknowledged receipt and promised a team response within a week. Candidate followed up 3 times over 45 days with zero replies. The requisition was re-published on LinkedIn 20 days later. 📋 Uncompensated Assessment Details: 25-question high-school to university written essay plus 4-hour open-source patch assessment ⭐ Ghost Severity Rating: 4.38 / 5.0 Rating Analysis: High score driven by extensive unpaid written labor (4.8), perpetual cyclic job board reposting over 14 months (5.0), 45 days of absolute silence (4.0), and massive community corroboration across Hacker News and Glassdoor (4.8). Rubric Breakdown: Silence: 4.0/5.0 | Rounds: 3.8/5.0 | Take-Home: 4.8/5.0 | Reposting: 5.0/5.0 | Consensus: 4.8/5.0 🔗 Community Discussion & Evidence: Hacker News (742 upvotes, 320 comments) — https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38194481 🔍 LinkedIn Footprint: Perpetually Reposted (6+ months). Active on LinkedIn for over 14 months; automated refresh cycle triggers every 28 days. Over 40 Glassdoor interview reviews cite the 20-page essay requirement and subsequent ghosting.