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Your conclusion doesn't follow. Just because something isn't representative of a typical situation doesn't mean that it can't accurately predict performance in
by CHY872 12y ago
Your conclusion doesn't follow. Just because something isn't representative of a typical situation doesn't mean that it can't accurately predict performance in that situation.
I'm not sure why you (and others, it happens every time this sort of thing gets brought up, not a personal attack) seem to try to take away from the achievement of the kids that take part in this. It's really first rate problem solving, and so far as I can notice (at a skim) no one actually tried to claim in the article that it's the same as standard software engineering.
To address your main point, my personal experience (I know four people who have performed strongly in such coding competitions) is that it correlates really quite well. That's mere anecdotal evidence, but furthermore, your point is dubious because this type of coding competition shows an extreme aptitude at a certain type of programming, as well as enthusiasm, dedication, high stress performance, teamwork - which are all in general useful qualities in normal software engineering.
Of course, you won't be able to take someone with an incredibly high capability for understanding complex graph algorithms and plonk them in to every job (front-end stuff might go poorly), but chances are they'll be able to find something to their liking at Google, Facebook etc fairly easily.
At risk of sounding like one of those recruiters that sends me all the emails on LinkedIn, if you're world class at a certain type of work (as a significant proportion of the people referenced in the article presumably are), someone will probably hire you to do that work.
- vonmoltke 12y ago> extreme aptitude at a certain type of programming If you are hiring for aptitude in that type of programming, great. If not, it really doesn't tell you much. > enthusiasm, dedication, high stress performance, teamwork It is definitely a good way, but not the only way, to show these intangibles. > Of course, you won't be able to take someone with an incredibly high capability for understanding complex graph algorithms and plonk them in to every job (front-end stuff might go poorly), but chances are they'll be able to find something to their liking at Google, Facebook etc fairly easily. And yet Google makes their hire/no hire decisions on all software engineers using the exact same interview gauntlet. They give the impression that a software engineer is someone they can plonk into any job. That is my frustration with the industry in its current state. Software engineering is a complex area of practice and, in my opinion, has outgrown the notion of the universal software engineer. Software engineering needs to develop true specializations, like electrical engineering, and evaluate people based on their area of expertise. The type of coding these programming competitions exercise is just one specialization, albeit a very important specialization for certain classes of problem. For the record, I am not trying to belittle the achievements of those who excel at competitive programming. In fact, I think its awesome and these kids will be valuable contributors to the profession later. My argument is against the notion that programming like this should be viewed as prototypical and expected of anyone who wants to be considered good at software engineering.
- witty_username 12y agoI'm not trying to take away from the achievement—all I'm saying is that it's not the best representation of programming skills.