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Google stopping coding competitions

developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#161

Post by agolio »

kuboble wrote: post #151
agolio wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Sure but regular kaggle competitions have all those qualities, usually with a $50K+ prize to boot.

Google seems to have skipped out on the prize and substituted branding

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#162

Post by gibolt »

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…

Microsoft had a diverse set of revenue sources through that period. Google makes 90% of their revenue through ads.

Microsoft could have very easily found another Ballmer instead and ended up very different today. Main takeaway is they aren't really comparable and we still don't know where the winds are blowing for Google.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#163

Post by Gigachad »

QuercusMax wrote: post #148
realslimjd wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100,000,000

OK, so you can buy 10 mega yachts instead of only 5. You've got 30 vacation homes instead of just 10. How does this actually impact your life?

Because they don’t buy 30 vacation homes, they buy companies. Where the extra 100m goes a long way. I’m sure he is quite comfortable on 100m though.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#164

Post by astrange »

gkoberger wrote: post #9

We could lament them shutting it down, but why not thank them for doing this for 20 years? That's a LONG time to do anything, and despite what Google has become, it absolutely defined tech culture. Now it's obvious and commonplace, but an employee-centric company was revolutionary at the time. Things like this changed the lives of every single person here, either directly or indirectly. And best yet, it's a chance fo…

I think I'd prefer Google to care about their users more than their employees.

(And every time there's a story about Google employees rebelling, it's to make things even better for the employees and continue ignoring the users.)

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#165

Post by Gigachad »

SteveNuts wrote: post #59
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 a nerdy kid growing up, Google always felt like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory to me. There was somewhat of a feeling of mystery about the things they were working on, and when things like Gmail were unveiled it felt like such a wonder. Now they just seem like a worse version of Microsoft to me, at least Microsoft knows how to deal with enterprises.

This is exactly how it felt for me. I always wanted to work there as a kid/teen. I no longer feel much desire to.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#166

Post by astrange »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #39
burnished wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tip outs are better in bougie joints frequented by tech workers. This isnt a contradiction to your main point, maybe more of a damning with faint praise if anything.

> 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.

"Trickle-down" is meaningless. Getting tipped can enter you into the entertainer class, like a musician or an onlyfans owner.

On the high end that means you get paid a lot more, because each of your individual customers is paying you and none of them are looking at your total income and deciding you already made enough.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#167

Post by tobyjsullivan »

roncesvalles wrote: post #113
nemo44x wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's such a bad CEO that I can't believe he's still in the seat. Just the way he let the employees revolt and embarrass him. If he had any dignity or pride he would have resigned then. He may know all the facts on how businesses should be run and is a good guy, but he has 0 leadership skills. Just an awful, terrible leader. The ChatGPT fiasco is further evidence the place has been mismanaged the last 8 years.

If a person is in a $200m per year job, they're primarily incentivized to keep the job for as long as possible. This one objective dwarfs any other consideration in every decision that the person makes. And sure, 99% of his compensation is Google stock, but at those magnitudes the marginal utility of the dollar is zero. What's the difference between $100m and $200m anyway?

How does the money factor in here?

Presumably sundar is motivated to remain CEO for as long as possible regardless of the specific motivations, right?

Whether he is motivated by earning a billion dollars over a decade or he’s achieved pure altruism and simply wants to make Google the greatest company in history doesn’t really matter. He can only achieve his goals if he remains CEO. And as a public company, that means keeping shareholders happy. No?

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#169

Post by astrange »

Silverback_VII wrote: post #22
naillo wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has never looked more tired and more prone to be overtaken.

It is the he/him culture who has corroded the giant from the inside.

Are you capable of guessing the gender of any given Chinese/Indian/African person by their name without being told?

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#170

Post by kohllision »

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…

> I think the direct impact of these competitions to hiring were minimal.

I can confidently say that this is not the case in India. I have a countless list of people (including myself) who received emails from Google recruiters for advancing to later rounds of Code Jam or securing a top rank in a Kick Start round. Even if people missed out on top ranks, they would put their results on their resume/LinkedIn and would get attention from recruiters anyway. Needless to say, these were strong signals for recruiters, especially for university students. Based on the skewed demand-supply here, they were closer to necessary than sufficient.

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