It's a shame that what was a good idea of having a space and community for all men really just turned into the space for that 5-10 year window for guys that are retired but not yet ready to spend their day in a nursing home. At least where I am they have a reputation for being filled with oldies that are a little slow and not friendly to plain hostile.
Hopefully all of them around Australia aren't like this, but I have heard this same view from many people independently
Have worked a long time in a company that does $5k referrals. Have referred 4, 2 successful so $10k. One of them landed in my lap so treated the money as guilt free "buy whatever I want" money. The other was a very good friend so set up the beer fund so I'll cover drinks until that runs dry.
However the most I've seen was a new grad. He's a lovely bloke, was head of all the societies at uni, knew everyone studying CS at a very good uni. In his first year he referred all his uni friends, think he got around 15 or so successful referrals in that first year. My friend in HR processing then said it was more than her salary.
It helps that it is a good company where you'd tell little to join even with no referral, but the incentive makes you seem it that little bit more
Love Dalibor's work. I have the Puri clock, and it is a real statement piece that wows people. I didn't get it for that, I just got it half because I loved the aesthetic and half I wanted to support someone doing something that unique (one of those things I would personally like to do in a life after software).
On the plus side, Dalibor himself has been extremely helpful in answering questions and resolving minor issues with the clock (both software issues, both quickly resolved).
It is undoubtedly a hard to justify luxury item, but if on the fence you should buy it. It is more impressive in person than I imagined.
Often the new strategies top level players test on anonymised accounts are subtle tweaks in lines deep into / slightly beyond opening theory. Often these lines are slightly inferior to mainline but come with an edge due to the "surprise factor" making it harder for opponents to prepare. Each of these subtle tweaks will only arise in a small proportion of games (as only some of the time your opponent will play the line you want to test), so I imagine fingerprinting based on play style will still work relatively well.
Anecdotally, my uncle did this back in the late 80s to 2000s. Towards the end he would make AUD$400-800k a year (depending on how many jobs he took on) which was great money for someone who got into it in his early 20s after dropping out of high school.
The catch was the pressure of the environment, needing to be physically in peak shape (my uncle was an anomaly in lasting in the job until his late 40s), and the danger as he had several colleagues die on the job (worst I heard was due to the operators giving the wrong gas mix to the chamber). My uncle also definitely is a crazy man with a few screws loose, so that part checks out
Hopefully all of them around Australia aren't like this, but I have heard this same view from many people independently