4 ms·

The part I miss the most from high school were these kinds of competitions. Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for

The part I miss the most from high school were these kinds of competitions. Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for teenage me.

Avamander 5y ago
At least in IT there are challenge platforms and hackatons, in cybersecurity there are CTF's, training sites and bug bounty programs. So at least in those aspects there's a possibility to learn new things. I haven't heard much about similar things being available for adults in other STEM areas unfortunately. Maybe someone else does?
Claude_Shannon 5y ago
That hits so close. :( I used to take part in this, and informatics olympiad, but I never got anywhere. Even if I never really was good at this, I still miss these things. Now that I'm studying, there are no such things. :|
- amelius 5y ago
  There's the ACM competition for teams. https://icpc.global/ https://icpc.global/
  - qumpis 5y ago
    And all kinds of competitive programming events, such as Codeforces.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- hnfong 5y ago
  I used to find this super fun: https://ipsc.ksp.sk/ https://ipsc.ksp.sk/ Too bad they didn't continue doing it though. The other more "serious" programming contests, ACM, Google Code Jam, Top Coder, Codeforces, etc etc -- felt a bit too artificial and too "serious" for my tastes. But if you found competitive programming fun you might like them too.
onion2k 5y ago
Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for teenage me. I had the opposite experience. My school was really into competitions for everything, and it was incredibly demotivating because I didn't care if I was the best at something. Putting effort in for tangible rewards (eg money) is great, but working for a shiny cup or 'glory' is something I've never understood. No one else will care 10 minutes after you've won.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- MauranKilom 5y ago
  > No one else will care 10 minutes after you've won. Depends on the competition, but success in federal/national/international competitions is an extremely positive signal during hiring. In my experience (from both sides), at least.
sydthrowaway 5y ago
> Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for teenage me. You must be good at SWE interviews.
- mFixman 5y ago
  I wish! At least I enjoy studying for them.
zodiac 5y ago
You can still do IOI style contests very regularly as an adult, check out AtCoder or codeforces. Actually the US national olympiad (USACO) is open for everyone too :)

The part I miss the most from high school were these kinds of competitions. Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for teenage me.

Avamander 5y ago

At least in IT there are challenge platforms and hackatons, in cybersecurity there are CTF's, training sites and bug bounty programs. So at least in those aspects there's a possibility to learn new things. I haven't heard much about similar things being available for adults in other STEM areas unfortunately. Maybe someone else does?

Claude_Shannon 5y ago

That hits so close. :( I used to take part in this, and informatics olympiad, but I never got anywhere. Even if I never really was good at this, I still miss these things. Now that I'm studying, there are no such things. :|

amelius 5y ago
There's the ACM competition for teams. https://icpc.global/ https://icpc.global/
- qumpis 5y ago
  And all kinds of competitive programming events, such as Codeforces.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
hnfong 5y ago
I used to find this super fun: https://ipsc.ksp.sk/ https://ipsc.ksp.sk/ Too bad they didn't continue doing it though. The other more "serious" programming contests, ACM, Google Code Jam, Top Coder, Codeforces, etc etc -- felt a bit too artificial and too "serious" for my tastes. But if you found competitive programming fun you might like them too.

onion2k 5y ago

Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for teenage me. I had the opposite experience. My school was really into competitions for everything, and it was incredibly demotivating because I didn't care if I was the best at something. Putting effort in for tangible rewards (eg money) is great, but working for a shiny cup or 'glory' is something I've never understood. No one else will care 10 minutes after you've won.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
MauranKilom 5y ago
> No one else will care 10 minutes after you've won. Depends on the competition, but success in federal/national/international competitions is an extremely positive signal during hiring. In my experience (from both sides), at least.

sydthrowaway 5y ago

> Having to study random fun things and being rewarded for it was peak happiness for teenage me. You must be good at SWE interviews.

mFixman 5y ago
I wish! At least I enjoy studying for them.

zodiac 5y ago

You can still do IOI style contests very regularly as an adult, check out AtCoder or codeforces. Actually the US national olympiad (USACO) is open for everyone too :)