How it works

Fluid Attacks Academy is an internal program. The program has two sides:

• Talents upload solutions to technical challenges at all times.
• The Fluid Attacks teams monitor the talents and examine their solutions.

This page explains the two sides.

As a talent

The Academy is a simulated IT environment¹. This environment operates in a repository on GitLab. The repository has hundreds of online coding challenges and hacking challenges.

As a talent, do these steps:

1. Find the challenges that have no solution in the repository.
2. Prepare your solution. You can write it in one of the supported programming languages, which Languages gives.
3. Upload your solution through the CI/CD pipeline.

The pipeline in the Academy is the same type that the IT industry uses.

Phases

The Academy has four phases: Journey, Quest, Onboarding and Practice.

The four phases are not steps of one sequence. The administrative department puts you in one phase when you start, and your situation decides the phase. You stay in that phase until the administrative department moves you to a different phase. In all the phases your primary instruction is the same: upload correct solutions to the repository. The phases are different in three conditions:

• Each phase has a different type of contract between you and Fluid Attacks.
• Each phase asks a different quantity of time from you.
• Each phase has a different payment procedure.

These conditions show the phase that is applicable to you:

• If you are not an employee, and Fluid Attacks pays you for each hour, your phase is Journey.
• If you are not an employee, and Fluid Attacks pays you one quantity for a set of challenges, your phase is Quest.
• If you are a new employee, your phase is Onboarding.
• If you are an employee who is not new, your phase is Practice.

1. Journey

Journey is a phase of evaluation. You are not an employee in this phase, but Fluid Attacks pays you.

Before you start:

• Fluid Attacks gives you an @fluidattacks.com corporate email account.
• Make your GitLab account with this email account.

In this phase:

• Solve the challenges on the CI/CD platform. All the talents in the Academy use the same platform.
• Record your time in Time Doctor, in the task F/ Entrenar - Academy.

Fluid Attacks pays you for each hour that Time Doctor shows.

Each week, Fluid Attacks examines your results. If your results are satisfactory, you continue in the phase. If you do not continue, you can start the selection procedure again after a time that Fluid Attacks specifies.

2. Quest

Quest is a phase of evaluation. You are not an employee in this phase. Fluid Attacks pays you 200 USD for the full phase.

The system selects 6 random challenges. These challenges are applicable to the vacancy that you applied to. You must solve the 6 challenges in 2 weeks (10 business days, or 14 calendar days).

Before you start:

• Fluid Attacks gives you an @fluidattacks.com corporate email account.
• Make your GitLab account with this email account.
• Fluid Attacks gives you access to the platform.

In this phase, you must record your time in Time Doctor, in the task F/ Entrenar - Academy.

Payment procedure:

1. Send your billing account data to Fluid Attacks.
2. Fluid Attacks sends the payment 10 business days after it receives your billing account.
3. If you are in Colombia, the payment is in COP, at the TRM of the day of your billing account.
4. If you are not in Colombia, and your bank account cannot receive USD, Fluid Attacks sends the payment through Deel. A billing account is not necessary for this procedure.

At the end of the 2 weeks, Fluid Attacks examines your results. If your results are satisfactory, you continue in the selection procedure.

3. Onboarding

Onboarding is the first phase of your employment at Fluid Attacks. In this phase you solve challenges during all your work hours. The phase has three functions:

• It prepares you for your role.
• It shows your technical level.
• It shows you the speed of work that is usual at Fluid Attacks.

Your employment contract specifies your payment. You must do this phase. You must record your time in the applicable software. Each week, Fluid Attacks examines your results. Onboarding stops when you start the usual tasks of your role.

4. Practice

Practice is a phase for employees who are not new. In this phase the employees stop their usual tasks. They solve challenges during all their work hours.

Your employment contract specifies your payment. You must do this phase. You must record your time in the applicable software. Each week, Fluid Attacks examines your results.

Practice has two main functions:

• It calibrates the platform.
• It gives a baseline. Fluid Attacks compares the results from Journey, Quest and Onboarding with this baseline.

As a Fluid Attacks team

For the Fluid Attacks teams, the Academy is a simulated IT environment that they can monitor at all times. In this environment, a group of talents does these things:

• They solve coding challenges and hacking challenges in different languages, without help.
• They obey the applicable standards.
• They use the CI/CD pipeline.
• They show what each talent can do.

With the Academy, a hiring lead can identify two differences:

• Some candidates can do the tasks, and some candidates cannot.
• Some candidates can get new knowledge without help, and some candidates cannot.

The Academy gives the Fluid Attacks engineers a location where they can measure their technical level. The metrics are the same for all the talents.

Footnotes

1. The payment rules are different for each phase:

   • Journey — payment for each hour that Time Doctor shows.
   • Quest — one payment of 200 USD for 6 challenges in 2 weeks.
   • Onboarding — payment through the employment contract.
   • Practice — payment through the employment contract.
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