Right, the issue is that they're going to hook people who are aspirationally looking to work at a FAANG and will not by any stretch of the imagination pass thei

Right, the issue is that they're going to hook people who are aspirationally looking to work at a FAANG and will not by any stretch of the imagination pass their interviewing process. They picked Pay Later because they figured they could pay for it later if they got the job, or given the funnel hacking discussed in the post, they never considered that they would have to pay for it later even if they didn't get the job. This is a lower scale and lower cost version of the for profit bootcamps and IT schools. Yes, if you go in with the tools you need to succeed, you will probably gain something and get a good start at a FAANG or similar. The programs cannot work miracles and have a vested interest in casting as wide a net as possible even though that's a disservice to their customers. This service figured out they need to reign in that net to confirm people can actually pay their cost.