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I am not sure about Bulgaria, but Russians seems to be winning most of the ACM programming contests. (I am not russian, btw) So, there is some real talent ov

by ardit33 18y ago

I am not sure about Bulgaria, but Russians seems to be winning most of the ACM programming contests. (I am not russian, btw) So, there is some real talent over there. Comming from an ex-comunist country, I can tell you that the schools teach a huge amount of math, physics, and other sciences. When I came to the US, I thought high-school was embarrasingly easy. I also cruised my freshman year in college, and I started to get really challenged by school only by the second semester of my sophomore year in college. The other caveat is, that all the good people have left my country, and are working abroad, making pretty good salaries. So, whats left is not necessary the top of the heap. I am not sure about the situation in Bulgaria, but I bet it is similiar. Saying that you are the "top" engineers of the country, when you know most of the good ones have already left, is not saying much, unless he backs the claims up with real products and feats he has done.

jrockway 18y ago
I am not sure about Bulgaria, but Russians seems to be winning most of the ACM programming contests. I'm an American. As a high school student, I was never interested in programming contests, because I found solving the same problem as everyone else rather boring. I would rather solve a problem that doesn't have an answer. So I think Russia wins these things because their mentality is different. In America, the really smart people want to do something new. In Russia, the really smart people want to get a high ranking on the programming contests. I haven't done any real research, though, this is just something I think is true :) One other thing I should mention is that I don't really like losing / failing, so I tend to pick activities that aren't zero-sum. If you don't win the programming contest, you've lost. If you don't solve an interesting unsolved problem the first time, you can try again until you get it right, and nobody will ever know.

by ardit33 18y ago

jrockway 18y ago

I am not sure about Bulgaria, but Russians seems to be winning most of the ACM programming contests. I'm an American. As a high school student, I was never interested in programming contests, because I found solving the same problem as everyone else rather boring. I would rather solve a problem that doesn't have an answer. So I think Russia wins these things because their mentality is different. In America, the really smart people want to do something new. In Russia, the really smart people want to get a high ranking on the programming contests. I haven't done any real research, though, this is just something I think is true :) One other thing I should mention is that I don't really like losing / failing, so I tend to pick activities that aren't zero-sum. If you don't win the programming contest, you've lost. If you don't solve an interesting unsolved problem the first time, you can try again until you get it right, and nobody will ever know.