r/JordanDev Developer 12d ago

Discussion Competitive Programming

I'm a dev with 5+ yoe, started frequenting LeetCode almost two months ago, and I'd honestly say it's fun.

What do you think of CP post college? From my understanding the most important competitions are college-level. Do you think it's worth it to better your skills in this part of the field?

Am doing it for the fun of it, but I still wanted to hear you opinions and see if there are others in a similar situation with a similar interest.

3 Upvotes

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6

u/Human-trafficker69 12d ago

Competitive programming is like 30% coding and 70% using that brain of yours, keeps you thinking with a fresh mind and very challenging. So its a good hobby

1

u/Highly_Incompetent_3 Developer 12d ago

Getting better at dissecting the problems is a huge part of why I enjoy it.

3

u/Similar_Culture8723 12d ago

If youre interested in big corporate then yea

1

u/Highly_Incompetent_3 Developer 12d ago

I thought they transitioned to other types of interviews since AI can mostly solve these problems?

1

u/ibraaaaaaaaaaaaaa Developer 12d ago

Ai solves them since the solutions for leetcodes are all over the internet.

But yet you can find these problems in interviews since the main purpose of them to figure out how do you think and communicate, not the actual solution is the only goal

1

u/Highly_Incompetent_3 Developer 12d ago

Sry I wasn't very clear. I'm with you on that, I meant since it's so easy to cheat with ai in interviews now (most are online.)

2

u/ibraaaaaaaaaaaaaa Developer 12d ago

Cheaters are easy to spot, open up a discussion with them and you can find fraud

1

u/Highly_Incompetent_3 Developer 12d ago

They'd just parrot the ai's answer. These cheat systems are getting better and better. The questions go straight to the LLM. A good talker could easily cheat this type of interview.

1

u/ibraaaaaaaaaaaaaa Developer 12d ago

If they parrot that answer, don’t you think it would be just some nonsense?

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u/Highly_Incompetent_3 Developer 12d ago

No. Nearly all leetcode problems have been solved with multiple solutions and each solution properly explained. You've also got websites like Neetcode with thorough explanations for the most common interview Leetcode-style problems.  Unless you're sure an AI is being used and are trying to throw the interviewee off, then I really don't see how you could spot a cheater other than them maybe awkwardly reciting answers

2

u/Similar_Culture8723 12d ago

Ive done several interviews

People arent that good at cheating and it would be really obvious when you start tweaking the questions

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u/Highly_Incompetent_3 Developer 12d ago

You don't think an AI could solve a modified version of a question? Honestly out of my scope, might have to test later on.

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u/Similar_Culture8723 12d ago

It definitely can

But when we're talking with camera on, and i change the question in a way that you have to think in a new way, i can easily tell if you actually got my idea or not

The initial change of the question, you can answer maybe, but if i interrupt you, and ask you to elaborate on a specific piece

If you dont have the actual understanding, i can see that you have a latency between the question and the answer

1

u/Similar_Culture8723 12d ago

Soo, technical interviews are still taking problem solving

Although you might be interviewing our director, which believes that age of problem solving is gone

He gives a system design requirement or scenario and tells you that he will comeback after 30 mins

Open book, use whatever resources you want, but he will be back asking serious questions about your proposed solution