Programming Contests, Algorithms, and the Real World Steven Skiena | Hacker News Reader

Programming Contests, Algorithms, and the Real World Steven Skiena

cs.sunysb.edu

44 pointsthenicepostr11 comments

As an ICPC competitor, I don't even find these tales all that cautionary. It's a well known fact that those who do best in standardized tests do not excel the most in the workforce. Programming contests are no different.

And to be fair, I'm not really sure that I even agree that going off to go work at Microsoft or IBM is all that bad. You're still solving problems, they're just different problems. The claim, I guess, is that they aren't algorithmic problems. But the majority of algorithm-based ICPC problems are combinations or heuristics of already defined algorithms. Ad-hoc problems are where true problem solvers flourish.

I should note that some of the Target Topcoders work at top companies (like Google), presumably solving "ad-hoc real world problems". Last time I checked, examples include Petr, Tomek, etc.

This might be better suited for an Ask HN, but he mentions this in his slide on what not to do,

"Avoid self-destructive behavior/career-limiting moves"

In the cautionary tales he gives, I really don't see this, except for the missing going to grad school. What is a career-limiting move, and how would I be able to both identify one and maneuver around it?

Probably misbehaviour. For example; excessive consumption, fraud, sexual, etc.

I'm "L". I love Skiena, and admire and respect him greatly. But at some point, I just didn't think grad school was for me. My first job offer paid considerably well for someone right out of college, and it was nice to finally be able to help the family.

Part of it was also being young and short-sighted. I took a considerable grad-level course load as an undergrad and didn't find the topics challenging or exciting enough (accurately described as a burnout). Probably should've gotten the MS at least though.

I'm not sure if his cautionary tales are that discouraging. That said, I work at a company at which about half of us are yellow+ TopCoders, IOI finalists, ICPC finalists, or something of that nature, so I'm surrounded by people who are very similar to his cautionary tales.

lal.com?

imo.im

Georges Harik FTW!

> "the best student I ever taught algorithms to is female."

Steve Skiena calling someone his best student is a strong statement - any idea who this is?

I competed then coached the ACM contest at my last university. Out of the really solid competitors I worked with, one is a pretty well-respected Microsoft MVP, consultant, speaker and author. Another founded an open-source company and regularly appeared on tech news sites a couple years ago. I've lost track of a couple others, which tells me that they're probably stuck in line-of-business app hell ("COBOL programs" in the article).

Before Top Coder, to me the most famous ACM competitor was Ian Goldberg, who has done some noteworthy things in his career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Goldberg

Programming contests are a fun diversion and a tool to sharpen your skills.

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