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Google stopping coding competitions

developers.googleblog.com

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Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#81

Post by aniforprez »

Reason077 wrote: post #47
reptation wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

n=1 but the built-in Maps on iphone seems to be fine these days. Doesn't steer me wrong, integrates with a car. Not sure what the moat here is other than name recognition or current popularity. Perhaps app integration or API consumption?

Apple Maps, and the huge number of products based on OpenStreetMap are perfectly fine as maps. And actually, even better than Google Maps in many cases. But where Google Maps still dominates is in its unrivalled, global point of interest (POI) data. Accurate business locations, opening hours, photos, reviews, etc... nobody else comes close.

Honestly Apple Maps isn't even particularly good outside of the US and a few European countries. Roads are constantly out of date and can barely keep up and landmarks and businesses in tons of major cities aren't close to correct

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#82

Post by agolio »

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?

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#83

Post by eitland »

shadowgovt wrote: post #75
croes wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>nobody really complains about Google Search except us nerds. I know many non nerd complainers, but they don't know any alternatives.

Neither do the nerd complainers, apart from scoping their search to a few trusted information repositories (Reddit, StackOverflow, &c). Nobody's cracked the "general search across the whole Internet" nut better than Google has right now. But that nut itself has encountered challenges in yielding value as of late.

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: for some narrow searches like arcane git knowledge or some niche parts of history etc, search.marginalia.nu is actually a lot better than Google and DDG and Bing. I am actually serious! Much less spam and you find results that could easily have drowned in between "top ten" articles in any mainstream search engine.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#84

Post by sien »

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.

That's hardly fair.

Cisco, Oracle and IBM actually have some customer service.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#86

Post by CydeWeys »

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.

The exact mechanism of employee compensation here doesn't matter. Either the tech worker pays $30+6 tip for a meal and the server makes $10, or the tech worker pays $36 with no tip for a meal and the server is paid more and still makes $10, it doesn't matter. The point is that a restaurant needs a large number of rich clientele in order for the restaurants' employees to make a lot of money.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#87

Post by tpmx »

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…

Know what's even worse than Google on autopilot? Microsoft.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#88

Post by AlbertCory »

robocat wrote: post #36
giraffe_lady wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> line cooks I agree with you. However it is interesting that Charlie Ayers (employee #53 as a cook at Google), made millions when his stocks vested.

Charlie was not a "line cook." That's someone who takes prepped ingredients and combines them into a dish according to directions, and may in fact have zero ability to choose and create dishes himself.

I don't know if he'd call himself "executive chef" but that's more like his job description.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#89

Post by panic »

antondd wrote: post #85

It's been an interesting experience watching the primo crop of Silicon Valley sweethearts coming out of age and turning into this generation's IBMs, Oracles, and Ciscos. "He who slays the dragon shall become one".

The trick is to slay the dragon and then go home. If you stick around the gold and treasure for too long, that’s when it starts to get dangerous.

Re: Google stopping coding competitions

#90

Post by red-iron-pine »

sien wrote: post #84
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.

That's hardly fair. Cisco, Oracle and IBM actually have some customer service.

Cisco does -- if you pay for it.

As for Oracle -- never dealing with them again if I can help it.

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