I wrote a quick Python script to pull down all of the results from the qualifying rounds of Google Code Jam from 2008 and 2009. I have put the rank and time of each submitted solution for all participants in these two Google Spreadsheets:
I also put a collection of summary statistics in this Google Spreadsheet.
Here are some conclusions drawn from these data:
- The number of participants increased by 1,449 people in 2009, a 20% increase.
- There were 2,572 people who participated both years. This means 36% of the 2008 participants came back for more.
- The 2008 Qualifier had more difficult problems. After normalizing the point totals (2008 had a max total of 75 points but 2009 had a max of 99 points), the average score was 15% higher in 2009.
- Problem C in 2008 was extremely hard. Only 14% of the participants solved Problem C with the small data set, and only 9% solved Problem C with the large data set.
- The large data set for Problem C in 2009 was hard for many people. Only 36% of people solved it. Furthermore, of the people who solved the small data set, only 57% of those were able to solve the large data set.
- People worked roughly the same amount of time both years. The 2009 times are all slightly larger, but the round was also extended by 2 hours because of technical problems early in the round.
- On average, for each participant, there is about a 3.5 hour gap between the submission time of the first solution and the submission time of the last solution. Of course some people (like me) probably choose to tackle the problems whenever they found free moments during their day.
If people are interested, I’ll post my code and all the data somewhere.
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