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Google stopping coding competitions

developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#151

Post by kuboble »

agolio wrote: post #82
naillo wrote: post #12

Interesting that just a few days ago they posted about opening basically the same thing but focused on ML https://developers.googleblog.com/2023/02/MLOlympiad2023.htm... Interesting contrast and I guess a sign of the changing tides.

Am I missing something or are these just regular Kaggle competitions, but with no prizes? What is google offering, other than the branding? Why are competitors motivated to take part?

Because people like competing. Because people like solving problems.

There is often beauty in good competition problems. And you can even learn something along the way.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#152

Post by JohnFen »

tmtvl wrote: post #140
JohnFen wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to pivot Microsoft into what it is today You mean marginally less obnoxious than it used to be?

Hello, I am Cortana, would you like to play Bejeweled? Sorry, that isn't fair, but still I think they were less obnoxious back in the Windows 3.1 days.

I think it depends on what you're looking at. If you're looking at those sorts of things, Microsoft is far more obnoxious than they used to be.

If you're looking at business practices, they're a little less obnoxious than they used to be.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#153

Post by dashundchen »

bsaul wrote: post #126
lwneal wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sundar is the Steve Ballmer of Google. And that's fine! Ballmer was a competent if uninspiring CEO: Microsoft under his leadership missed many new opportunities, but still made lots of money. Most importantly, Ballmer's tenure is what made it possible for Satya Nadella to pivot Microsoft into what it is today. Realistically, Windows Phone was never going to beat Apple, Bing was not going to beat Google, Yammer was no…

Fully disagree with windows phone. It never reached enough maturity to be a true competitor to ios, but it absolutely could have won over android. the gui was truely innovative (with the « tiles » system), and the general feeling and smoothness was absolutely better than android. Microsoft missed a huge opportunity there. It never was a technical problem, MS knows how to make operating system. It was only a strategic…

In terms of UI, Windows Phone was so far ahead of Android and iOS at the time (and in many areas still beats both of them. Android is still a mess). The Nokia Lumia series of phones also were solid with great cameras in an era of plastic Android phones.

I agree Microsoft flubbed the strategy, same with Zune where they had a technically superior product but no commitment.

Platform reboots killed any developer momentum they built - Windows Phone 8 apps were not backwards compatible with Windows Phone 7 which itself was a clean break with Windows Mobile. A lot of trending apps like Instagram and Snapchat never released apps on the platform, so you had to use third party knock-offs that chased private APIs. Microsoft did build some great social media integrations that tied your contacts into a single local profile across platforms (Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook).

They also kept rebranding and shuffling services on the phones - for example Zune became Xbox Music became Groove.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#154

Post by red-iron-pine »

mikrl wrote: post #48
steve_adams_86 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Tip outs are better in bougie joints frequented by tech workers. This sounds a little trickle-downy. Why not strive for an economy where people doing important work like feeding their communities just... Don't need to be tipped? I know it sounds crazy in today-terms, but if it makes any sense, it makes tipping culture look like more of a problem than a boon to anyone receiving the tips.

Servers love tip out. They can make hundreds a night and possibly even what a junior SWE can (pro rata) if they’re good. If you want fierce resistance from servers - ask them to split tips more equitably with the kitchen - offer to abolish the tip system altogether and just pay them $15/h flat, hell even $25/h

> Servers love tip out. They can make hundreds a night and possibly even what a junior SWE can (pro rata) if they’re good.

Bollocks. Maybe at the fanciest, high-end locations, and only on busy days, i.e. Fridays or Saturdays.

Maybe a Jr SWE in, like Mississippi, but there is no way even the top 10% of servers are pushing tech hub SWE salaries. And even if the pure-cash gets kind-of close, there is often no healthcare, no 401k, no bennies, no bonus; the TC wouldn't be close at all.

Many states only pay $2.18 per hour for tipped jobs; 15/hr would be utterly amazing and 25 would be great. No server I know would ever push back on that, save for the tiny, tiny handful working at high-end locations. Yeah the dude working at the trendy bar in NYC with $33 highballs might be able to pull near six-figures while handling a cocaine habit, but I'd bet my hat that a majority of servers would make more money if they 25/hr.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#155

Post by JohnFen »

nh23423fefe wrote: post #150
JohnFen wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to pivot Microsoft into what it is today You mean marginally less obnoxious than it used to be?

Make an attempt to say something you believe, instead of inventing beliefs for others.

I was stating my personal opinion in an (attempted) humorous way. I doubt anyone seriously thought I was summarizing anyone else. I truly apologize for being unfunny here.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#156

Post by jrm4 »

lwneal wrote: post #115
blindriver wrote: post #18

Thank you Sundar for getting rid of the frivolous, Silicon-Valley-esque things like coding competitions for kids, extricating all of the humanity and decency that made Google so inefficient with money, and for doubling down on your focus to turn Google into the next iteration of Cisco, Oracle and IBM. It's exactly what this world needs, so you are the perfect leader for this.

Sundar is the Steve Ballmer of Google. And that's fine! Ballmer was a competent if uninspiring CEO: Microsoft under his leadership missed many new opportunities, but still made lots of money. Most importantly, Ballmer's tenure is what made it possible for Satya Nadella to pivot Microsoft into what it is today. Realistically, Windows Phone was never going to beat Apple, Bing was not going to beat Google, Yammer was no…

Overall, I don't understand this "that's fine."

No. It's not. Which is to say, why do we value "CEO makes money?" That's NOT valuable to me. Microsoft doesn't pay me, therefore the pure question of whether or not they make money is literally meaningless to me, and should be meaningless to you if you are not in their employ. I'm not saying it's bad either, but it's such a weird gut reaction.

Which is to say -- if you find out the CEO is making the company more money, you still do not yet have enough information as to whether they're good...

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#157

Post by shhsshs »

iqihs wrote: post #112
Jun8 wrote: post #6

Is there any other, more gracious, way to interpret this as Google retiring for on being Google, if so I’d like to know. I think the direct impact of these competitions to hiring were minimal. The biggest impact was to have thousands perhaps millions of coders and researchers see Google as the place to be. As the place that gets it. The Mecca of coderdom, if you will. Now they are just another corporation. I hope the…

as Google retiring for on being Google Can you learn to construct a grammatically sentence before you decide click the submit button?

There is a much more civil way to word that.

> as Google retiring for on being Google

I can't tell what this phrase is supposed to mean. Can you explain/edit your comment?

It seems like they meant "as Google retiring from being Google"

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#158

Post by snerbles »

leereeves wrote: post #135
mrguyorama wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you spend a million dollars on Oracle hardware they at least give you a human being who is authorized to fix things for you and diagnose your problems. Meanwhile in google land, you can literally be bring in millions of dollars worth of advertising revenue on your channel and asking for help from your dedicated Youtube contact/representative can get your entire channel retroactively demonitized https://www.youtube…

That creator seems to have found some help eventually, because their channel isn't age-restricted now and they're still posting videos on YT.

It looks like it took social media shaming and backchannels, similar to the occasional desperate post on HN for support for locked accounts and such.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#160

Post by vineyardmike »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #62
shaunsingh0207 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate how "normal" of a company google is becoming. Closing down services and products not because they aren't profitable, but because they aren't profitable enough . They've really lost their way the last few years. In the late 2000's/early 2010's, google was pictured as the "fun" place to work. In part due to their coding competitions and the various other events they held for students throughout the year. Everyon…

> Most of the people I know who wanted to work at google, and a few that worked at google, now have higher paying, more enjoyable, and more stable jobs elsewhere Honest question (this is really not a challenge), care to share where? I always thought of the FAANGs (collectively) giving the best compensation in the business. Which companies are paying more than Google but with more stability?

This doesn't exactly answer your question but some FAANGS pay better than others, and its related to the "desirability" of the company. Eg. Amazon started beating out Google's pay, since people wanted to work at google, and had to be coheres to working at amazon.

I can't answer where pays better than FAANG, but companies in the bay (eg. Uber) are starting to approach the salary. Even smaller no-name bay companies are starting to match on base salary (equity+bonus is harder to match).

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