

Programming contests used to be fun. Now they're a commercial software business—and still fun - edw519
http://www.ddj.com/article/printableArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=ERHVK03B04WDEQSNDLOSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=207404123&dept_url=/architect/

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DaniFong
The TopCoder algorithm competitions were entertaining, and I learned a lot.
The marathon matches were grueling, and for the first while interesting, and I
learned a fair amount.

The dev/design competitions were, for me, quite painful. It was an incredible
chore to force my self into using their process, and as I was banking on it
for some income, the discovery that solutions were rejected because I was
missing absurd amounts of documentation/unit tests meant I don't see myself
going back to it any time soon.

The design & dev competitions began to overwhelm the community as well. I
haven't played there for a while.

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unknownuser
I believe that the winning entries for the design & dev are sold by topcoder
to various companies. Personally, I think it is very immoral.

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pmjordan
How is this immoral? They tell you how it works upfront, they pay you one-off
for winning the competition, and they pay you royalties when companies buy the
software. It would be immoral to judge the best entry as being not up to
scratch, not pay out, and still sell it on, but that's not what happens. (the
contest is re-run in that case)

Besides, it's what you call a (sustainable) business model.

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hobbs
I've been looking for some part-time freelance income. Has anyone has ever
used these contests to supplement income, or to make valuable contacts?

I've participated in TopCoder a couple times a while back, but didn't see much
benefit in practicing up to become competitive. This article indicates that it
may be different now. Is that true?

Specifically, the prizes awarded were not sufficient to compensate for the
time investment required. Even bidding $10/hr for rent-a-coder gigs typically
have a higher return on investment.

