If you score, let's say, top 30% on that contest, you should be stapled a green card and come here, IF you want to.
For many years, there was University of Petersburg (Russia), would win the contest. A lot of these kids would get jobs from IBM, or MS. I'd say lets staple them a green card, and make them work for who the fuck they want, and maybe they create a startup, or join one, and hire even more middle/average americans also. Remember, a lot of startups have limited resources to deal with visa/green card sponsorship, so they can't afford to hire some of these bright guys. If they were allowed to work for whatever they wanted to, then they probably would benefit a lot of startup that needs really great talent (which might get wasted in a large company).
it is a win win situation.
But no, ACM and it's cousin, the EEC, are just taken over by bigots. If, they had their say, they would close the borders completely.
Well, accidentally, they have deviced a really good way to find out good programmers, from a bad one.
If you say this country has enough smart people, and it doesn't need more, i say you are full of shit. Economic opportunity is not a zero sum game. If you give more people the ability to 'be all they can be', without visa restriction bullshit, then there is more human potential to be unleashed, and utilized for the best.
If you want your country to look more like Detroit, or Alabama, then close your borders...
And legally, a people who has no green card can not start any S-corp/LLC to hire her/himself. So a talented person without U.S. spouse and 1 million dollars and employer in U.S. has no way to get a green card, even he is fully capable of starting a start up with less than 1 million dollars by him/herself and grow it up to hire more Americans in 5 years.
And H-1B is not the solution to attract talented people by asking them to work as "indenture servants" in face of possible layoff and ask to leave the country in 10 days after layoff.