Next schoolyear, we'll have to do a project in groups of 4-5, over the course of 2 weeks.
Problem is, I'm one of the 5 people, of my class, with an, at least, somewhat useful level of programming knowledge.
So if the groups get randomized, I might end up with 4 dead weights in my group.
I'm already thinking about emergency plans, to ensure a good grade for me, but I can't think of any usable solution so far.

The obvious solution would be to protest randomising from the beginning and getting together with the other 4 good pupils.

And keep in mind that the main point of group work, for the teachers, is that they have much less work than for individual grades. So if the teacher insists on randomising, you can increase his work load.

Means, offer to just get together with these four people, be it by "randomness" or otherwise, and you'll shut up. Otherwise, you would protest group grades and insist on individual ones, and escalate that stuff to his superiors and the upper school administration. That would cause hassle and work for the teacher at the very least.

Preferably, you don't do that in full classroom before all other pupils because if the teacher loses his face, he'll also offer more resistance.

I'm assuming here that the other four would want to go that route as well, of course. You'll need to clarify that with them beforehand.

I used to love these projects.
Usually it’s simple enough for one person.
So in general I just tell everyone to fuck off and let me work for 3-4 days.
Then I ask them to write comments in code, documentation et prepare presentation.
All projects got more than 17 in score. (Out of 20. )