Looks like Cat Allman was let go in the big layoffs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Allman
I'm guessing that's the reason for this. I wonder what this means for Summer of Code.
Google stopping coding competitions
251–260 of 335 posts
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good news: kagi.com is mostly a shell over Google and Bings apis, but they do quality control and they are building their own index. I have paid for months from my own pocket and since I started using it, search doesn't drive me mad anymore. It is not perfect, but anytime I find a problem now a real human verifies it or ask for clarification within hours and a fix is made an pushed with a reference to my report. Also…
I'm not a Kagi subscriber, but I'll be. Yesterday I was looking for a pdf reader app with a specific feature. Nor Google nor Bing helped me; result pages were almost 100% ads (most by Adobe). I was giving up. My first try with Kagi gave me exactly what I wanted.
Exactly.
Can I guess it wasn't a result of keyword stuffing with every result but Google and Bing "forgot" some of your search terms to show you more thinly veiled ads/"content"?
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not so sure that truck drivers haven't benefited from Google maps and the ability to search for things while on the road. Do you think they avoid the internet? Line cooks: they don't use the internet when they go home? They don't watch Youtube? They don't use Google maps to get where they're going sometimes?
I used to drive a box truck at work and I can definitely confirm that google maps is used heavily. I used Google maps during almost every trip! Finding random addresses in places you aren't familiar with can be difficult and waste a lot of time, with the maps app it would let us go straight to the destination. I can only recall one time that Google maps lead us astray too! It's very accurate even in rural areas and o…
The main times I've found Maps to be inaccurate are when their underlying data sources are obviously wrong.
Example 1: Maps believes a mountain road still exists, when it's been disconnected and impassable for years.
Example 2: Maps believes an numeric address is physically at a different part of the street than it is.
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#254Earlier 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…
It's been a long time coming. Google ran an experiment: "We are surrounded by stodgy, calcified software firms. Can we build a company that isn't like that and is also successful?" For a long time, they succeeded. But I think that experiment has run to a conclusion and they've discovered for themselves why their competition became stodgy and calcified (it wasn't because that's what they wanted to be; it's because the…
It's hard to be the scrappy and disruptive company when you've established the reputation that all of your new products efforts are a probably just months away from being showcased on https://killedbygoogle.com.
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#255Coding competitions were always a recruiting tool. Now that Google basically isn't hiring, it makes sense that they're winding down the coding competitions.
If we ever get back to having a Google that's competing for the best engineering talent, they'll probably reinstate them, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#256We 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…
Wow! What a joy to click on the comments and find a positive comment at the top. Thanks for writing this and thanks HN upvoters for expressing your gratitude.
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#257Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
he got lucky, but when they said, "We'll give you some stock in lieu of a big salary" he had to say Yes. How many chefs would do that?
>> "We'll give you some stock in lieu of a big salary" big tech salary or big restaurant salary? The difference is 10x
How much do you think an executive chef at a successful restaurant in the Bay Area makes?
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#259I wonder if Google Summer of Code is next.
Re: Google stopping coding competitions
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's been a long time coming. Google ran an experiment: "We are surrounded by stodgy, calcified software firms. Can we build a company that isn't like that and is also successful?" For a long time, they succeeded. But I think that experiment has run to a conclusion and they've discovered for themselves why their competition became stodgy and calcified (it wasn't because that's what they wanted to be; it's because the…
It's hard to be the scrappy and disruptive company when you've established the reputation that all of your new products efforts are a probably just months away from being showcased on https://killedbygoogle.com .
I wonder what would happen if they spun stuff off instead of killing stuff. Keep 20% ownership, it's an alternative to layoffs.