• The New York Times, Friday, June 3, 2011 12:31 PM

Prior to its bust, the Web's first boom was infamous for conspicuous spending, lavish parties, and superfluous perks like Aeron chairs and in-house masseuses. With those heady days in mind, and amid what some suspect is another Internet bubble, The New York Times reports on the hiring practices of Hipster, a San Francisco start-up that lets consumers post queries and answers to others in their geographic area.

Hipster is offering new hires $10,000, a year's supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, and a sort-of hipster starter kit, including a bicycle, pair of over-sized glasses, skinny jeans, a bow tie, mustache-grooming services and a pair of boots. More gimmick than gold, The Times chalks the effort up to fierce recruiting competition among tech companies to hire and retain talented software developers and engineers -- which may or may not support some bubble theories.

"As you know, recruiting is insanely competitive right now, so we wanted to do something that would break through the noise," says Hipster co-founder Doug Ludlow.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »