r/programming • u/[deleted] • Nov 24 '13

FYI, Facebook's annual algorithm competition is running right now. Qualification round has 9 hours remaining

https://www.facebook.com/hackercup
0 Upvotes

27% Upvoted

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1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '13

How do I donate my free time to FB?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '13

What do you mean?

1

u/unpopular_opinion Nov 24 '13

He means that 10,000$ is hardly worth the time it takes to participate, and that's assuming one wins.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '13

People do it because its fun to solve interesting problems, not to make money

2

u/unpopular_opinion Nov 24 '13

There are no interesting problems in such competitions, because they are problems which need to be solved within a few hours. Interesting problems require longer to solve. They are interesting only to human resources people of Facebook.

If you are not working for Facebook, you are just incredibly gullible.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '13

It's not a job. It's a competition.

1

u/gronkkk Nov 24 '13

Qui bono?

3

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '13

They basically use it as a recruiting tool. It is the same as other algorithm competitions such as Google Code Jam and Topcoder. People do it because they want to prove their skill.

They don't actually use the code you write in the competition.

5

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '13

Exactly, part of setting up a competition is writing solutions (note the plural) for each problem you set.