Yeah, those competitions are not really representative of actual skill.

I was into competitive math as a teenager and was somewhat successful, but I actually kind of suck at math.

Similarly, I'm a professional developer but I'm really bad at competitive programming: what usually happens is that I know how to solve the problems but the time limit is too low (for me, at least).

I'd say success in competitions is a good indicator of dedication and perseverance, but not sufficient to spot someone who's good at the job.

Yeah, competitive programming forces you to use short variable names and write makeshift code which is fast enough to pass all the test cases ...