I think you're partially right about these programs picking 'winners' and ushering them into jobs they could have done without this program since the actual wor

I think you're partially right about these programs picking 'winners' and ushering them into jobs they could have done without this program since the actual work here boils down to a 3 week project. However, it can be pretty hard to even get an interview if you don't fit what recruiters pattern matching against, so in some sense this is helping companies make smarter recruiting decisions.