So I've made several posts (here and here) on the Netflix Prize Contest that you should read before this one, if you haven't already. The contest is designed to improve the Netflix technology that recommends titles to their customers (NY Times Article) and I think there are a couple of interesting stories playing out behind the scenes. So rather then continuing to speculate, I decided to go to the source and put on my recruiting hat to find someone inside of Netflix that would tell me what's really going on.
A quick search, some emails, and later that day Jessica Neal, the head of technical recruiting at Netflix, was gracious enough to call me and chat. Here are the notes from that conversation:
Where did this idea of the contest come from at Netflix? It was a cumulative effort by a couple of people, with several standouts being Jim Bennet, the VP of Recommendation Systems, Stan Lanning, a long-time Netflix employee, with support from our CEO Reed Hastings They think the algorithm is the best on the Web, but that it could be better, and couldn’t help but wonder: isn’t there someone out there that can beat it? It’s also a chance for Netflix to put themselves on the map and compete with other technical companies in the Silicon Valley. Until people see Netflix from the inside, many people don’t understand how many really cool but tough challenges Netflix has and the technical hurdles that they face. The whole thing that makes the company work is the technology that the engineers have built, and it’s highly complex from a variety of different facets. Netflix is a very technically sophisticated company, but many people don’t see that from the outside.
Cinematch is designed to get customer to rent titles they might not choose otherwise. Netflix has 65k titles, and most video stores only have 3,000, so you don’t see people renting the long-tail movies, unless they come in and search for those titles specifically. It’s the movies ‘in the center of the video store’ that no one browses because the titles are not mainstream or are older. Unless you are looking for Caddyshack for some reason, you are not likely to rent it.
How did you come up with the $1M prize as the right amount? It makes a big impression (laughing). They wanted people to know that they were really serious about it. It’s a lot of money, but also this is something that can compete with the other technical contests of the world, the guys from Stanford and Berkley who are working on getting unmanned vehicles across the desert, they had to get those talented people's attention. The smartest people in the world have lots of problems to solve, so you have to make it compelling.
What are you doing to engage and build relationships with the software developer group that is participating? Not sure yet. To be honest, they know who they are at least. You have to be genuine about what you do, and its about the prize, and not about recruiting. Could it lead to hires? Sure. Possible future collaborations? Sure. Right now they are focused on the prize, and seeing what they can do with that. They didn’t do it to recruit, they did it to solve the problem and keep the contest pure.
I write about transparency a lot, particularly as it relates to recruiting. How does this more transparent world that we all live in play into the contest? The Contest is completely transparent, we aren’t doing it to create a recruiting channel or for any other hidden agenda. We are going to keep it pure, and about the prize, and do the work and see what progress people make. It’s not about recruiting.
Are you surprised that it took only 30 days to get to a ~5% progress point? Some are surprised, and some aren’t. I’m sure there are different opinions inside the company about how long it will take. It’s certainly easier to solve the first 5% as opposed to the last 5%.
Has anyone in the group of contestants raised their hand to apply for a job at Netflix? Nope. Not a single person. She thinks it’s a mutual thing, NetFlix is going to keep the contest pure, so the contestants are too. People realize what one thing is and what another thing is, which makes the whole experience more rewarding.
Does Netflix intend to hire the winner? I have no idea. Not sure what we will do with the winner. And it might be 10 people that win from a country halfway around the world.
What’s the most surprising or unexpected thing about the context? She thinks, for her, the surprising part is that the response it got from the amount of people around the world that joined. Within the first hour after the contest was launched, there were 51 different countries represented and over a 1,000 people joined. It reached national recognition quickly, which they expected, but also got global recognition right away. She didn’t expect it to happen as fast as it did.
Do you currently operate internationally? No, in the US only, which is also interesting. So even though Netflix doesn’t have a footprint in any other country, over 115 other countries fielded contestants.
Anything surprising about the news media coverage? We were not expected it to be as widespread as it was. Once it got picked up, it went everywhere, and it was on CNN, the front page of the newspapers, literally everywhere. I was even on vacation in Hawaii, trying to get some R&R time, and then low and behold, there it was on the front page of the newspaper (laughing). Global coverage... it was a great surprise.
So, since this is a recruiting blog, why should people want to work at Netflix? If you go to the website, there are the top 8 reasons to work at Netflix.
But what are Jessica’s top 8 reasons?
1.) Amazing problems to solve in software engineering.
2.) Work on applications and software that are going to touch millions of users.
3.) Great values.
4.) Creative environment.
5.) Rules annoy them.
6.) We only hire really senior level people.
7.) Oustanding staff.
8.) Amazing future ahead.
How large is Netflix? Only 300 people at corporate, and 1200 people across the country.
Are you looking for recruiters? Yes. Great recruiters should contact me. Our bar is very high for recruiting professionals.
I'm grateful for the time that Jessica spent with me, and look forward to following this story as it continues to unfold.
I've been following your coverage of this topic. And it seems to me that this sort of contest is a way for large companies to harness the entrepreneurial spirit that is so ubiquitous among young people.
One of the reasons corporations are having a hard time attracting young people because they want to run their own business. The Netflix contest is a sort of compromise: People get to work for themselves and make a calculated bet on their ability to innovate, and Netflix gets to have smart people working on their problems.
Posted by: Penelope Trunk | November 26, 2006 at 07:23 AM