Hacker News Reader

Comment by dartos | Hacker News Reader

> leetcode correlate with IQ and general intelligence

Links? Kind of sounds like something you just have a gut feeling on.

Supposedly IQ test have a slight positive correlation with workplace performance. I could see leetcode skills(or, put more broadly, algorithms knowledge) having a slight positive correlation with job performance, but as everyone knows it doesn't guarantee someone is a good or productive developer.

The flaw with the metaphor is that you can study for leetcode, whereas supposedly(can't find a good source on this) you can't really study for an IQ test. I had a weak comp sci background when I started doing leetcode interviews and would struggle with questions. I spent several months studying CLRS, cracking the coding interview, etc., and now I would say I am fine at most problems up to medium complexity.

Studying leetcode and IQ both correlate with better performance in leetcode.

There's no raw data to back either statement up, but both are very likely to be true via common sense.

Yeah, apparently I have a very high IQ but I still suck at programming. I often wonder if they tested me wrong, but I was tested twice. IDK

Anyone else like this? Maybe I have a learning disability or something.

I've heard of this. Dyslexia maybe?

I have an above-average IQ, but there are certain things that I find very hard that are easy for other people.

IQ isn't a universal "you're good at everything" score, even if it was an objectively good measure of intellience.

101 is above average 110 is where there should be notable advantage in more things as it's 1 std above the norm. The higher your IQ the more and more universal it tends to become.

So at say 150 you would notice that you would find most tasks easier then most people then say 110 where you would find less tasks more easier.

It's a gut feeling but it's a very valid one. Its been measured and validated among so many metrics that it's pretty solid that performance any intellectual task will highly, highly be inline with IQ. In psychology it's one of the few quantitative metrics that so solidly predicts a lot of things.

What seems seems disingenuous to me is sometimes people can't hold and opinion without hard data. Do you really need raw data to know you shouldn't hire a person with an IQ of 45 to drive a bus?

No most people don't need data. I think what's going on here specifically is that a lot of people don't do well on leetcode and they know it and they don't like to think that it correlates with their general intelligence.

I'm truly sorry for making some people face that reality. I would say I'm not the best performer on leetcode myself. I can't deny that even without raw data it's pretty solid that IQ will correlate with leetcode performance. There are other correlative factors too like studying for leetcode specifically. And I don't need raw data to make either of those statements.

Leetcode correlating with IQ tests makes sense they are very similar. Correlating either with general intelligence is less obvious.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com