I've participated in several programming contests and think it's a lot of fun. what I dislike is when a company is hiring and expect applicants to do free labou

I've participated in several programming contests and think it's a lot of fun. what I dislike is when a company is hiring and expect applicants to do free labour. it's bad for everybody, the company doesn't get to hire people who have got a life or are too busy with other things. and the applicant is welcomed by the message - we expect you to work for free. having a programming competition in the open might alleviate some of the problems of doing work and sending it off into the void.