Bootcamps, work trials, token burn: Inside the recruiting practices at the hottest AI coding startups

Credit: Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI AI coding startups like Cognition and Base44 are using unconventional methods to attract top talent. Execs are scouting platforms like X and GitHub for experienced, undiscovered engineers. Candidates can expect multi-day trials and the freedom to use AI in interviews. They seem like any other tech company: cracked founders, sky-high valuations, and minimalistic Silicon Valley offices. But getting into this group of AI startups is no easy feat. As competition for top engineers reaches a fever pitch, the buzziest AI coding startups are flipping the script on recruiting and finding unconventional ways to separate top builders from résumé polishers. Here's a look inside five of the recruiting practices at vibe-coding startups like Cursor, Cognition, Base44, and Replit. 1. Intense courtship In the AI talent war, top engineers and researchers aren't applying for jobs on a portal. They're being wooed like coveted NBA draft picks. Pre-SpaceX acquisition, AI coding startup Cursor grew at breakneck speed . Employees say that even as the company boasted a few hundred employees, CEO Michael Truell scanned X and GitHub profiles himself in search of undiscovered engineers, former founders, and employees at companies like Notion and Figma. Cursor CEO Michael Truell is known to be personally involved in hiring. Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference Cursor's courtship started with an email from Truell himself and could get more intense from there. "If someone has a reputation, they will almost love bomb them," one former employee said. "Everyone's reaching out to you all of a sudden," with employees asking a prospective candidate to meet for coffee, then to swing by the office. Top staff at $26 billion Cognition , the second-most valuable AI coding startup, are working hard to keep up in the talent war, too. Emily Cohen, the startup's head of people, said she has flown across the world to meet a potential employee in person