$ what's in here
$ what the tier is
Your tier (1–10) is a placement, not a grade. It says where you fit in the zone of projects you're matched into. Tier 8 isn't "better than tier 3" — they live on different shelves of the platform, and a tier-3 dev is the right pick for a tier-3 project. Always.
$ what signals matter
The tier comes from real signals — not CV claims, not LinkedIn fluff. The interview composes them into a placement.
- GitHub history — public repo activity, commit cadence, complexity of work, contribution patterns. Verified via GitHub OAuth Device Flow, not self-reported.
- Stack signal — what you actually use vs what you claim to. Cross-checked against repos.
- Recent project — what you've worked on lately, in your own words.
- Working-style axes — mindset, focus pattern, conflict style, listening style. Mix-not-match needs more than skill.
- Authenticity probes — small consistency checks across the interview. Caught bots and faked answers, mostly.
$ how matching runs
Three depths, run in sequence.
Shallow: SQL filters — tier range, skill overlap, availability, language, timezone, platform-tier eligibility. Sub-100ms. Returns top 50.
Mid: scoring pass on those 50 — tuned weights (config not code) across skill overlap, persona mix, timezone, domain interest, availability, behavior tier. Returns top 10.
Deep: Claude evaluates the top 10 against the full project spec. Returns top 3 with written reasoning the founder reads.
$ two ladders, not one
Skill tier is one dimension. Platform tier is the other.
- Skill tier (1–10) — from GitHub + interview. Stable. Says what you can build.
- Platform tier (Open / Deep) — everyone starts Open. Complete one Exitr project → flip to Deep. Says that you finish what you start.
Deep devs see new projects 7 days before Open devs do — the "verified by behavior" lane. Ghost a team and you drop back to Open. Self-posted founder projects that ship also count toward the flip.
$ equal access for new devs
Founders pick a target skill-tier range at post time (e.g., tier 3–5 for an early-stage MVP, tier 7–10 for complex SaaS). Tier-3 devs see tier-3 projects, get matched into fits, complete them, flip to Deep. Not gated out. Not pretending to compete for tier-9 work they're not ready for.