In celebration of its upcoming one year anniversary, we are thrilled to formally announce the Bugcrowd Researcher Council. Begun as a pilot program in November of 2016, Bugcrowd’s Researcher Success Team identified 5 Researchers to invite to a special kind of pilot feedback program; since then, the program has grown 200% and the Council members have given their valuable feedback on a variety of implemented improvements, including the Researcher Dashboard and the current ongoing improvements to tokenized search.
What is the Bugcrowd Researcher Council?
The Researcher Council is a unique opportunity for a group of recognized Researchers to help shape the overall Bugcrowd Researcher experience. By providing their insight and feedback on a range of topics and opportunities, including upcoming platform designs & improvements, the council has direct input on researcher-focused programs.
“As a product organization, Bugcrowd creates feedback loops to ensure we’re making the right decisions as we develop and build the product roadmap. Thus when working on a concept, it’s been indispensable to have a group of diverse, active users (on a location, skill, and background level) provide insight on what the future of Bugcrowd can be.”
– Barnett Klane, Technical Product Manager, Bugcrowd
The dictionary defines a “hive” as a place swarming with activity. Our researcher council is just that. Including some of the most active members of our community, “the Hive” as we refer to the council internally is a “place” to come together to contribute to the future of Bugcrowd. At Bugcrowd we are constantly innovating, we rely on this concept of the “hive mind” (defined as an entity consisting of a large number of people who share their knowledge or opinions with one another, regarded as producing either uncritical conformity or collective intelligence) to build the best product possible.
What is a Researcher Council Member?
A Council member serves for a period of six months, though they may re-invited to participate with the Council for successive periods of time. Each Researcher’s candidacy is thoroughly reviewed by the Researcher Success team, and while there is no specific equation to become a Council member, some of the evaluation criteria include overall Platform/program activity within the last year, demographics (especially geographical representation!), and historical communication with both Bugcrowd & Program Owners alike. Current Council members receive the same review consideration when their membership is up for renewal.
A few words from Current Council Members…
“The council has provided the opportunity to meet and become close friends with a few great researchers. It has also been a great place to discuss various and sometimes differing opinions with not only respected researchers, but Bugcrowd staff themselves who are privy to several perspectives.” – JSTNKNDY
“By carefully and quietly observing the Council grounds, I have acquired great knowledge of ducks and wizards.” – putsi
“I was surprised and honored to get a invite to the Council because I only started doing bug bounties a few months before that. I accepted the invite because I had a few ideas of my own on how we might improve the platform. So for almost a year now I have been working with a lot of great people to make the platform a better experience for everyone.” – darkieduck
“Being a part of the council has allowed me to have a direct influence on new platform features and to have excellent conversations with top researchers about bug bounties in general and what makes good programs. It’s great to help improve my own research skills and experience as well as know that I’m helping give back to others in the community.” – cji
“Well, Bugcrowd helps me financially, and [helps me] hone my technical skills. To express my gratitude, I should help Bugcrowd on improving their platform.” – adrianbelen
