Why I Founded Enigmatch: A Personal Story of "Rejection"

I am a software engineer with a background in machine learning. I've worked in several tech fields, and honestly, I was arrogant. I thought I was good enough to quit my stable job, jump into the startup world, and succeed easily.

I spent a year committing to a startup—well, it wasn't much of a startup, really. Then reality hit me. I needed a stable income to live. I had to restart applying for jobs. To be honest, I regretted being so arrogant.

But what happened next was not what I expected.

The Wall of 100 Applications

I opened LinkedIn and applied to more than 100 jobs. I expected interviews. I expected offers. What I got was silence. Only a few replied back.

And even when I finally got a chance, the process felt… broken.

One time, I had an online interview that required recording a self-introduction video. I messed up a take and tried again. And again. I didn't notice there was a strict limit of three attempts. I tried a fourth time—and just like that, I was rejected. Not because of my code, not because of my experience, but because I clicked "Record" one too many times.

Another time, during a web-based technical test, I encountered a question with an abbreviation I didn't know. Naturally, I tried to Google it—just like I would in my actual job. The application detected my attempt to switch tabs. Banned. Immediate rejection.

I felt like I wasn't being evaluated at all. Sure, maybe I was still a little arrogant. Maybe I wasn't the perfect candidate. But did I really deserve zero jobs? Was my value as an engineer really zero because I looked up a term or retook a video?

The "Hacking" Game

At the same time, I started seeing complaints everywhere—on Reddit, X, and other social platforms. People were bragging (or complaining) about automating their job applications. Candidates were using AI to auto-generate thousands of resumes and cover letters, stuffing them with hidden keywords just to get past the ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems).

I realized the truth: This isn't hiring. It's hacking.

If your resume has the right keywords, you get an interview. If you use AI to fake a "perfect" cover letter, you get welcomed. But if you are an honest engineer who tries to solve a problem using real-world tools (like Google), you get banned.

This system is unfair. It is not evaluating skills, experience, or personality. It is evaluating how well you can game the system.

Therefore, I Decided to Found Enigmatch

I wanted to build a place where I would want to be hired.

I don't want to hire someone because they are good at writing resumes with ChatGPT. I don't want to reject someone because they Googled an error message.

I want to hire people who can explore Enigmas—problems with no simple "Key/Value" answer. I want to see how you think. I want to see how you use AI to solve problems faster, not how you use AI to fake your identity.

The current system is broken. It's mostly AI talking to AI, filtering out the humans. Enigmatch is my answer to that. It's time to stop screening resumes and start screening for the skills that actually matter.