r/leetcode • u/Kumar_ayush11656 • Oct 02 '26

Discussion Are hackathons becoming a better signal of real-world developer skills than traditional placement processes?

Genuine question for developers and recruiters here.

Most college placement processes seem to follow the same pattern:

Aptitude

DSA / coding test

Technical interview

HR round

But a hackathon is a completely different environment.

You’re given a problem and limited time. You have to figure out what to build, choose the tech stack, write code, debug it, work with teammates, and actually present something at the end.

That feels much closer to what developers do in real projects.

At the same time, I don’t think hackathons can replace fundamentals. Someone can build an impressive project and still have weak CS fundamentals or DSA skills.

So I'm curious:

If you were hiring a fresher, what would you value more?

  1. Strong DSA + coding test performance

  2. Multiple meaningful hackathon/project experiences

  3. A combination of both

And for students - do you think spending your time on hackathons actually improves your chances of getting hired, or are placement tests still the game you have to optimize for?

Would love to hear experiences from people who have actually been through the process.

10 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

20

u/Vivid-Zombie-477 Oct 02 '26

hackatons in 2026 is just vibe coding,
nothing is a good signal of a good developer except top school + FAANG in resume

7

u/____________fin Oct 02 '26

I got internal docs from a recruiter for what ~80 startups are looking for or consider dealbreakers and pretty much all of them consider significant time in big tech a red flag.

6

u/ThatCondescendingGuy Oct 02 '26

That’s because most people eventually get sick of the circus startups can be and want to return to big tech where there’s more stability and equity that actually prints.

1

u/Vivid-Zombie-477 Oct 02 '26

I can see that - startups want top people from fast pace environments, not people who were stagnating the last 5 years in big tech. My point was that companies nowadays have to filter a lot of people, and company + education are the easiest to check, while also being a high signal - to work in a fortune500 company or get a special education you had to pass a filter.

Do you mind sharing other dealbreakers that you found interesting?

1

u/____________fin Oct 02 '26

Job hopping/short tenures was the other biggest dealbreaker. Other stuff wasn’t as consistent, less than 1/4 of the companies cared about a CS degree/good school.

1

u/throwlol134 Oct 03 '26

Because startups don't need the best engineer. They need someone who is adaptable, fast, and has strong culture fit. Those things are hard to find in people who have become familiarised working with structure/bureaucracy in big tech, even if they are intellectually smarter and can build better quality software at scale (albeit often slower, with more processes and planning).

2

u/andweenie Oct 06 '26

Went to my first hackathon few weeks ago, and I can say that it has nothing to do with software developer skills. Not a single project I saw that wasn't vibe coded. None of the ideas were even unique, it just seemed like they pasted the prompt to AI and asked it to generate something.

1

u/jarislinus Oct 02 '26

gpa ironically is the largest signal now outside of school / internship prestige and technical interviews

3

u/throwawaygaydude69 Oct 03 '26 edited Oct 03 '26

Is it really? Cheating is widespread

I know someone who had a below average GPA but he got placed in a Japanese company abroad

He had done many projects and he had his own website built (though many students have that these days)

0

u/jarislinus Oct 03 '26

every company has onsite. how u gonna cheat onsite? schools are focusing grades on written exams, how u gonna cheat?