Hackathon Gold: How To Win a Job Offer In a Coding Competition 25
itwbennett (1594911) writes "Hackathons have stirred up their share of controversy — mostly around too-big prizes and the inevitable cheating that follows. But for some developers they also can be the ultimate job interview — not just a coding test, but an opportunity to show off your people skills. Take the case of the January 2014 GlobalHack contest in St. Louis that was initially attended by several hundred programmers. The story of the contest isn't who took away the top $50,000 prize but about the other participants who didn't finish in the money but came away with something else that is arguably more important."
just stay away from AngelHack please (Score:1)
because this d.bag runs it:
http://valleywag.gawker.com/ha... [gawker.com]
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Being a great code monkey does not mean you'll be great at running a company.
+1 that's me. (or want to run one, w/ 10 taxes) (Score:4, Insightful)
That's me. I'm not good at running a company, though I've run a few during the 16 years I ran them. I also don't LIKE running a company, filing taxes every month and all that. You've got employment taxes four times a year, state franchise tax, income tax, sales tax, business personal property tax in the county where the office is, business personal property tax where the servers are, managing group heath insurance - holy shit wtf is Obama doing today, unemployment tax, worker's comp ...
Being an employer in the US takes about 30 hours per week. The other twenty hours are left to manage the business - strategy, cash flow, manage the employees, etc. If I was lucky, I'd be able to code for five hours in a week.
That's unfortunate, because I really enjoy STARTING a business. Moving from being just one person to big enough to hire a full or half time accountant and full or half time HR person is REALLY difficult, though.
While I'm not that good at running a business, most people who know me say I'm really, really good at software systems design. I never did any real marketing - I didn't know how. My companies stayed afloat only because the product was clearly best in class.
Now, I'm rather enjoying NOT running a company. I just code all day. Some lady down the hall deals with insurance companies and studies Obamacare changes all day. Several people around the corner take care of the various taxes. I just build cool software and I like it.
(Is it a problem if we need more people dedicated to taxes and other government forms than we have programmers, marketing people, or customer support staff?)
Re: (Score:2)
(Is it a problem if we need more people dedicated to taxes and other government forms than we have programmers, marketing people, or customer support staff?)
Unemployment hovers around 7-8% today, what would it be if taxes were so simple that they "did themselves" with 20 hours a YEAR of effort per business?
If the U.S. wants to become more competitive in the global economy, we might consider streamlining the tax code. Unfortunately, I think we're all more interested in pork projects for our local area than anything as lofty as global competitiveness.
Re: (Score:2)
That's unfortunate, because I really enjoy STARTING a business. Moving from being just one person to big enough to hire a full or half time accountant and full or half time HR person is REALLY difficult, though.
It's really sad how soon in the process you actually have to hire HR and accounting........
Google Code Jam (Score:3)
Re:Google Code Jam (Score:5, Interesting)
Google Code Jam is a really super excellent way to get into algorithm programming competitions, at least in North American. The serious competitors are pretty thin on the ground here (or at least they have been in past years) so with a bit of commitment, some programming experience, and a little luck, getting to the on site rounds is very achievable.
It's especially a great opportunity if you're interested in working at Google - doing well will definitely attract their attention.
It's also one of the most approachable competition formats; it's very "approach agnostic", and doesn't focus on anything too obscure in terms of required knowledge or skills. The time bounds are loose enough that you don't have to worry about things like "reading from a file efficiently". The initial rounds usually just test whether you can do basic programming. The test cases they supply do a good job of making sure you get things like formatting right - meaning you get to focus on the actual problem instead of goofy side issues.
Very well run contest, and lots of fun even if you're not a real expert.
Re: (Score:2)
Just looked at some of the questions and they look mostly like standard read input and spit out an optimization answer. As someone else said on Slashdot years ago, the problem with such puzzlers is they select for people who like solving complex tasks, not for people who like avoiding such tasks and like helping others avoid them (as in people full of diligently applied hard-working laziness). For a company like Google that supposedly prides itself on making easy to use software, this would seem to indicate
Uhhh... (Score:2)
It isn't like Code Jam is their main stream of employee finding, and in general their engineer interviews are less puzzly than they used to be.
Google has a broad variety of problems that need solving, including a lot of problems where understanding algorithms is tremendously important. If anything Code Jam allows Google to cast a broader, more inclusive, fairer net - giving opportunities to people to shine who don't have a degree from MIT education or who don't fit the average software developer mold.
if you're 1 of the 83% who already have a job. 20 (Score:2)
Maybe if you're among the 80% of working age Americans who has a job, a new one isn't a big deal. Well, unless you're one of the 13% under-employed, a programmer checking groceries at Walmart. If you are among the 17% who are either struggling to find work or have given up hope and stopped even trying, a programming job that will pay your family's bills could be a very big deal indeed.
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe if you're among the 80% of working age Americans who has a job, a new one isn't a big deal. Well, unless you're one of the 13% under-employed, a programmer checking groceries at Walmart. If you are among the 17% who are either struggling to find work or have given up hope and stopped even trying, a programming job that will pay your family's bills could be a very big deal indeed.
While I think any job offer good enough to take is something to celebrate, it is unlikely that anyone receiving a job offer in this kind of competition is unemployed (unless by choice). The purpose of this hackathon was to find top talent, and top talent never has a hard time finding work. The two people offered a job in the article both had jobs, and it apparently took very good offers to get them to choose to work for TopOpps. This wasn't a situation where some college kids down on their luck finally foun
not for the job (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
No, actually, I would very much have to disagree with that.
I got my first job out of HS (over two decades past, now) in a "hackathon" for a scholarship with a bonus summer internship (which evolved into a "real" job once I graduated, though I earned that part, it didn't come as part of the package).
Although I eventually moved beyond that job, I have honestly never gotten another job that easily since then. And suffice it to say, having won
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
That's a nice anecdote, but I'd have to agree with the parent. First of all, jobs available through hackathons must be several orders or magnitude less numerous than jobs available via other means. Second, the process of going through an interview to get a job is not that difficult. Throw on a suit and answer some questions. You may not get an offer from every interview, but you won't win every hackathon either.
I don't think there's anything wrong with hackathons, but I don't think your view meshes well wit
What's up with that last cornball sentence? (Score:1)
. . . but about the other participants who didn't finish in the money but came away with something else that is arguably more important.
I think I know what it is. After going on your life-changing journey, you now realize you don't want what you thought you wanted. What you really wanted was inside you all along.