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In computer science world, I've personally noticed there is a dismissive attitude towards programming competitions among many, including some of my teachers. He

In computer science world, I've personally noticed there is a dismissive attitude towards programming competitions among many, including some of my teachers. Here, it is a hot take. I never understood this sentiment though. Competitions like ICPC aren't like silly quizzes, you need to have incredibly good understanding of algorithms and data structures. Now I understand that the breadth required here is of course broader than anything a programmer likely to use in an "average" programming task, but then again you shouldn't compare a ICPC finalist with an average programmer either.

munchbunny 6y ago
It really depends on what you're trying to correlate. When it comes to trying to read anything out of how someone does in something like ICPC, I compare it to doing well as an athlete: there's definitely something transferrable in there, but it's hard to claim that it's any specific technical skills. If you're good at competition programming, you can probably sling code pretty well, but that doesn't mean you're good at writing maintainable code in team contexts. But if there aren't other red flags I'd take it as positive signal that you're smart enough and hard-working enough to learn to do it quickly.
MauranKilom 6y ago
I think this difference stems from how easy it is to apply and display your skills to projects outside of competitions. I mean, how are you going to demonstrate your mathematical problem solving skills to an employer in a side project? "I research the Collatz conjecture in my free time?" Contrast that with programming, where there are practical challenges abound whichever way you look. So those choosing to participate in competitions instead presumably have a much more narrow range of motivations. I can't tell you why this should translate into dismissing these people, but there is certainly a difference.

munchbunny 6y ago

It really depends on what you're trying to correlate. When it comes to trying to read anything out of how someone does in something like ICPC, I compare it to doing well as an athlete: there's definitely something transferrable in there, but it's hard to claim that it's any specific technical skills. If you're good at competition programming, you can probably sling code pretty well, but that doesn't mean you're good at writing maintainable code in team contexts. But if there aren't other red flags I'd take it as positive signal that you're smart enough and hard-working enough to learn to do it quickly.

MauranKilom 6y ago

I think this difference stems from how easy it is to apply and display your skills to projects outside of competitions. I mean, how are you going to demonstrate your mathematical problem solving skills to an employer in a side project? "I research the Collatz conjecture in my free time?" Contrast that with programming, where there are practical challenges abound whichever way you look. So those choosing to participate in competitions instead presumably have a much more narrow range of motivations. I can't tell you why this should translate into dismissing these people, but there is certainly a difference.