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Comment by artsrc | Hacker News Reader

You say "gatekeeping device" like it is negative. All companies I have worked for have had a system of gatekeeping that includes things like university qualifications. I don't see why this system can't be improved.

Many companies now invent their own proficiency exams. We do.

Medical graduates work in a specific setting under supervision for a period after extensive education. I don't think the conditions of their work are ideal, but many people make it through without burn out.

Although technologies are changing, there are some things that transcend technology. Concepts about like documentation, naming, decomposition, components, interfaces, concurrency, locking, algorithm efficiency, many considerations of user experience.

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Right now getting hired is a gate, but having to join a guild before getting to learn would be another gate. Also the guild gate is a gate on knowledge, which is even more egregious, and its evaluations would be even more nebulous as it would be based on potential skill and not current skill. This means joining a guild is more akin to apply for college.

Companies have to abide by Labor laws and Colleges must have fair admissions, but a private guild could be much more exclusionary without the same legal repercussions.

I think medicine is more unique because it's one of the few fields that customers (patients) consistency demand quality over innovation. Do you want the treatment that works, or the new experimental one? Most people will want tried and true first. Of course there are always exceptions to this.

> Many companies now invent their own proficiency exams. We do.

Companies are not doing it to artificially restrict supply. They have no incentive to raise the cost of labour.

(On the other hand, the process could be captured by incumbent employees who do have that incentive).

That seems to be way more common than most people want to admit. So many software engineering interviews have very little to do with the job. Worse of course is when there is no process and it seems like the whole thing is just designed to get the hiring manager friends hired.

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