As a long-time interviewer, I've learned that a candidate being good at programming competitions means that they're probably good at programming competitions.
It's a weak signal either way for success or failure at interviewing and being able to do the job. Part of the problem, as we've discussed on HN so often recently, is that a programming interview has to waste time with FizzBuzz-style questions just to flag the candidates with great resumes, transcripts, and phone screenings who still actually can't program a computer to solve even a trivial problem.
It's a weak signal either way for success or failure at interviewing and being able to do the job. Part of the problem, as we've discussed on HN so often recently, is that a programming interview has to waste time with FizzBuzz-style questions just to flag the candidates with great resumes, transcripts, and phone screenings who still actually can't program a computer to solve even a trivial problem.