There are several reasons. For one, most of the best engineers and hackers have jobs already. Even if they're not super happy with their jobs, the prospect of s

There are several reasons. For one, most of the best engineers and hackers have jobs already. Even if they're not super happy with their jobs, the prospect of seeking out better places to work, submitting lots of resumes and cover letters, etc, has a high activation energy. The YCommonApp is a convenient way for people to get introduced to a whole bunch of high-quality and exciting places to work in a short amount of time. Also, since it's a custom application, anyone responding to it will have taken the time to fill it out specifically, which eliminates the standard resume-sprayers on craigslist, et al.