touta_matsuda's blog

What's with competitive programming hype in linkedin?
By touta_matsuda, history, 4 years ago, In English

I am seeing quite a lot of posts nowadays in linkedin with people posting about their recent results in contests, thanking everyone for that, most headlines are now 5* in codechef | Expert in codeforeces. it's just frustrating to use LinkedIn nowadays.

Some post templates I have seen:

  1. I solved a codechef long problem after 3 days of struggle.

  2. I participated in xyz-platform's xyz contest took world rank of 100, I thank everyone for that.

  3. I am delighted to share that I am now a 6* coder in codechef.

What's the point of sharing them there? Is this a humble brag to get interview calls?

  • Vote: I like it
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  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (32)
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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +135 Vote: I do not like it

I think LinkedIn's algorithm says that you are enjoying seeing similar posts and hence is showing you more such kind of posts.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +38 Vote: I do not like it

I am curious, does anyone actually get interview calls based on such small CP achievements like being blue/purple/yellow?

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +14 Vote: I do not like it

    If you become yellow/purple, in India you will be hailed as God of CP. So yes, being purple/yellow does fetch you interview call, maybe indirectly

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
      ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +42 Vote: I do not like it

      You are wrong "If you become yellow/purple, in India you will not be hailed as God of CP"

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

      That's hyped up. If you are strong in CP no need to show off people will know it eventually, and it does not fetch you interview call maybe you can add it to your resume but many can achieve that rating by simply taking help from a good competitive programmer( just to get a interview call) but the interviewer is not stupid.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

    Becoming yellow is certainly not a small achievement. Its good enough to atleast earn interview.

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -30 Vote: I do not like it

      The poster of this blog has China as country in profile (but he is most probably from India). China has 100+ GM, so I would be surprised if yellow is considered a big achivemeent there.

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
        ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +27 Vote: I do not like it

        There's 1.4 billion people in China, and ~140 red users, so if your standards of a big enough achievement to get an interview is being 1 in 10 million, I think your standards are too high :P It's only a job interview! (there are only 450 orange users in china, wouldn't you give some of them a chance if you're an employer in china? of course that's only if that user happens to live in the vicinity/or is willing to transfer, which probably reduces the number to less than 10 candidates, and most likely 0).

        Now real talk: If someone is orange it shows an employer the following (I'm not even going to mention "smart") about him: This guy...

        • worked very hard and practiced algorithms for probably a few years.

        • learned to debug complicated spaghetti code, and probably sat hundreds/thousands of hours debugging without quitting.

        • is super resourceful, doesn't give up when things get hard/boring, wants to get the job done no matter what. (I'm not sure if you know programmers but most of them aren't like that, and most give up pretty quickly and ask for help).

        • Developed his mind and problem solving skills.

        Do you not agree with my points?

        P.S. There is a downside though, as you'll always fear this guy will be tempted to solve problems instead of working ^_^

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          4 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it -24 Vote: I do not like it

          I think most recruiters don't care/know about CP. If there is a recruiter who knows well about CP, he will definitely give orange coders chance. But I would be surprised if someone can catch attention of non-CP recruiters (i.e. 99% of recruiters) just because of being yellow. Maybe being top 10 in ICPC regional / winning medal in IOI / GCJ world finalist is good enough achievement to catch attention of them. One recruiter explicitly told me he only counts ICPC regional top 10-20 as meaningful CP achievement, he doesn't even look at online contests' achievements (maybe he thinks online contests' achievements can be fabricated by telling your friend to give contest for you).

          I would be very glad to know that If I become yellow, I will get good interview calls. But as far as I know till now, I probably won't because I screwed up in last 2 ICPC regionals.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +65 Vote: I do not like it

    small CP achievements
    Small is relative here.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +7 Vote: I do not like it

We cannot stop them!! Digest this fact and moveon . Peace :)

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +57 Vote: I do not like it

Is this primarily an Indian thing or do other people do it as well?

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +19 Vote: I do not like it

I don't actually see anything wrong in it to be frustrated....linkedin is there to showcase ur skill set...it is just like..u r asking ppl not to show their skill set....it is just like a person posting his or her own new project on their profile...y make a big deal out of it

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -17 Vote: I do not like it

I didnt want to do it first then I saw many posts saying I reached specialist or expert on codeforces or 4* on codechef. After that I couldn't stop myself from posting after I reached expert
5* in codechef | Expert in codeforeces
LOL that's exactly my headline on Linkedin

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +17 Vote: I do not like it

    But you are not "Expert in Codeforces"

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
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      In the last 2 rounds I lost more than 150 rating... I didn't update my LinkedIn

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
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        that makes sense :)

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
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        Why not updating the downfall?

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          4 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +20 Vote: I do not like it

          Normal. Usually, people consider max rating instead of current rating. As people can just camp after getting max rating. And at the same time, max rating is not accurate due to luck. I guess taking something like Last 4 contests would be a good measure of real person's skills.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -14 Vote: I do not like it

So, what is your suggestion? What should be shared in linkedin by a student who do CP and some development stuffs? If he/she doesn't share those things in linkedin then why should they use linkedin?

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -27 Vote: I do not like it

Stop being a bigot.

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4 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Wow, reaching expert is so easy to get to thanks to Div 3/4. So, I don't think that is even of a big achievement. All you need is to camp Div 3/4 and to have brute force knowledge and to solve some basic ad-hoc problems. Then you will get to Expert in no time! When the first time I reached CM, I knew how much I struggled in those 7 months. Unlike reaching Expert, which only took 2 months to reach from specialist to expert.

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
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    then why i am not able to do it i have been specialist since mid of april

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
      ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Because you are not training hard. Or you are not entering Div 3's a lot.

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      4 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

      I looked at your submission, most of the time you are practicing A,B,C. To push the rating try to push your limits practice more Ds.

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        4 years ago, # ^ |
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        no i have looked stats i have solved more A,B,C,D,E,F as compared to you but still cyan that is what i am asking am i doing something wrong

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          4 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

          Try to solve problems without looking at editorials, and most important try to learn from the problems you solve.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +34 Vote: I do not like it

Don't be so envy to somebody's other success!

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    4 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    i am not i am just asking how he prepared in those 7 months.

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4 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +33 Vote: I do not like it

I didn't get your frustration, everyone has a right to share the achievements, when people are appreciated, they get pumped up to do better , so if you can't appreciate someone's achievement (as per your thinking) just move one, no frustration at all !!

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