Tag: Competitions

(8 minutes of reading time)


Competition is in the DNA of human beings. We are competitive by nature. Usually, we say that competition has been in our lives since the beginning, when people competed for food to survive.

Nowadays, we stop to watch football competitions, motor racing and many other sports competitions. But in addition to these competitions there are other types that do not involve physical activities and that competitors do not depend exclusively on their physical condition. In these competitions, the power of reasoning is indispensable. Among these, we can mention the high school Olympiads (mathematics, computer chemistry) and the higher-level ones, such as the SBC Programming Marathon.

And it will be about the SBC Programming Marathon that we will talk about in our text today because, few weeks ago, phase zero of this competition took place for the first time on beecrowd platform.

We at the beecrowd blog had the pleasure of talking to Leandro Zatesko, professor at the Academic Department of Informatics (DAINF) at the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR) and member of the organizing committee of the SBC National Marathon.

Zatesko was one of the responsible for the realization of Phase Zero of the SBC Marathon that took place in September on the beecrowd platform.

If you have doubts about whether to participate in Programming Marathons, read this interview to understand how it works and how important it is for the career of a programmer who wants to be successful!


How long have you been part of the organizing committee of the SBC Marathon and what is your experience in this process?

I have been participating since August 2021, at the same time I was organizing the 1st Southern Programming Marathon, in partnership with beecrowd (at that time URI Online Judge). Along with Professor Neilor Tonin, we are the representatives of the South Region in the Marathon Committee, and we have been working to give visibility and strengthening the participation of the South in the competition. Among the great achievements we have had in this process since last year, I can highlight the 1st Southern Programming Marathon and the union of the 2nd Southern Programming Marathon with the 5th Northern Programming Marathon, resulting in the 1st edition of Phase Zero of SBC Programming Marathon.


How important is it for a student to participate in a programming marathon?

First, it must be made clear that competition is not an end. The real objective is that, in the process of preparing for the competition, the student can improve their knowledge and skills, including being able to delve into topics that, although very important, are sometimes not properly covered in the grids of undergraduate courses. It is not by chance that many of the best opportunities in the job market have access to those who have performed well in the competition. Not only can we highlight these unique professional opportunities that the student can access, but we can also highlight the important interaction between the institutions participating in the competition.


For the 1st time we had Phase Zero of the SBC Programming Marathon, how was the event? How important is this phase for the Marathon in general?

The event was a success, despite a great challenge. We wanted to kick-start this initiative at all costs, together with the organizers of the Northern Programming Marathon and with the support of SBC. Despite the short time we had to organize the competition, we had the participation of more than 300 teams from all over the country. Registration for Phase Zero is free and the competition is online, regardless of registration for Phase One, which is paid and in person. Thus, I consider Phase Zero an important strategy to promote, strengthen, and especially democratize and popularize Competitive Programming in Brazil. That's why Phase Zero was born online and free, with an award policy that values diversity and inclusion, considering, for example, the best teams in each state, the best teams formed only by women, the best formed only by high school students etc.


What are the expectations for the SBC Marathon after this phase zero?

The idea is that we can have many more institutions participating in the Programming Marathon, training, getting involved. That the 2nd edition of Phase Zero, now organized with more time, and with all the experience of what needs to be improved, can take the Programming Marathon to unprecedented levels of visibility.


Any special tips for groups that are signing up for the next phases of the Marathon?

The tip is: always be evolving. Don't sabotage your development. Don't believe that something is far beyond what you can learn. Don't get comfortable training only with problems of the types and subjects you already know. Always keep learning new things, studying new things. A little bit of progress that you can make every week will make a lot of difference down the road. Remember that you can participate for 5 years in the Programming Marathon. So, focus on that “long-term”, where you would like to be in the competition 5 years from now.


How a programmer with experience in competitive programming apart from others?

The mastery of theoretical tools, complexity of algorithms, data structures, and other contents, which are often not seen with the necessary depth in undergraduate courses. Sometimes, the student's training is very focused on software development, but little focused on programming, in the broader sense of solving computational problems like those of the Marathon. Thus, although the student has no difficulty in accessing the abundant vacancies that there are in the job market for development, the most interesting vacancies for programmers, who will need to deal with computational challenges, are already much more restricted.


What do companies that sponsor events like the SBC Marathon look for in participants?

They seek to identify those who already in the competition demonstrate the skills that align with the company's profile. Not only hard skills, as I have already mentioned, but also soft skills as creativity and teamwork, which are also worked on in the Marathon.


What is the career of a marathon student? I mean, based on your experience, what do these students do after they become professionals? Where do they work?

I have some former students that I mentored, as well as former colleagues, who, because they did very well in the Programming Marathon, were able to access very good career opportunities. Some fell in love with the more theoretical aspects of Computing, also worked on the Marathon, managed to get into good Graduate programs, and are now at the Academy. Others, in turn, managed to access vacancies for programmers who deal daily with computational challenges like those proposed in the competition. Some of these are in Brazilian companies that require this programmer profile, but some are also in companies abroad.


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Leandro Zatesko is professor of the Academic Department of Informatics (DAINF) of the Federal Technological University of Paraná (UTFPR) and member of the organizing committee of the SBC National Marathon

On Saturday, June 11th, 2022, beecrowd ran an online competitive programming event for SAP Hungary. In total, 1198 competitors from 46 countries participated. The countries represented were: Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Italy , Japan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Palestinian Territories, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Peru, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

The final ranking of the event can be checked through the button below:

FINAL RANKING

For those who are curious to watch an event like this, we prepared a fun video, condensing the 5 hours of competition in just 2 minutes!

About SAP:
SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world’s transaction revenue touches an SAP system. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improves people’s lives.

(6 minutes of reading time)


Competitive programming is programming in a competitive environment. It is a mind sport (mental competition), carried out via the internet or in person and involves participants from the technology area, who try to solve a series of problems according to some specifications, using programming.

A programming competition usually involves presenting a set of logic or math problems to the contestants and requiring them to write computer programs capable of solving each of those problems. The one that solves the most problems wins and there are tie-breaking criteria such as resolution speed and others.


SBC PROGRAMMING MARATHON

The Programming Marathon is an event of the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC) that has existed since 1996. The Marathon was born from the regional qualifying competitions for the world finals of the programming contest, the International Collegiate Programming Contest, and is part of the South American chapter of the contest. This year is the 26th edition of the Marathon that will be held in Gramado, Rio Grande do Sul, from March 31st to April 3rd.

The marathon is intended for undergraduate and early graduate students in Computing and related area. The competition promotes creativity in students, the ability to work as a team, the search for new software solutions and the ability to solve problems under pressure.

Several universities in Brazil develop local contests to choose the best teams to participate in the Programming Marathon. These teams compete in the Marathon where the best teams will be selected to participate in the event's World Finals.


BRAZILIAN FINAL OF THE XXVI PROGRAMMING MARATHON

For those who like competition and programming, the SBC Programming Marathon is a banquet! This coming weekend is happening the national final of this competition, which classifies 3 teams for the world final of the International Collegiate Programming Contest - ICPC. We can say that the ICPC is the “World Cup” of the computing world, where the SBC Marathon is one of the “Cup qualifiers”.

Participating in this type of competition brings several benefits to students of Computer areas. In these competitions, programmers compete in trios representing their universities. Everyone must share the same computer and, together, find computational solutions for about 12 proposed problems, which must be solved in a 5-hour test. During these 5 hours, the team does not have access to any external or online resources: all they can access is their knowledge, physical books and physical notes.

Like sports competitions, the Marathon helps its competitors to develop not only technical skills but also time management, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. For a team to be successful, it is not enough to master all the best programming techniques. The team needs to get along to the point of knowing how to split tasks, know how to identify and prioritize the right problems, know how to listen to teammates and discuss ideas in a healthy way.

Thus, the participation of programmers in this type of competition prepares them, in a playful way, for different real life scenarios. Every technology company seeks not only technical preparation in its professionals, but also many of the so-called soft skills, which are overdeveloped in events such as the Marathon. The professional history of competitors from previous editions proves how much this competition adds to the professional future of its participants, given that most of them are employed in the largest technology companies in the world. Furthermore, the companies themselves look for former marathon competitors, knowing that the preparation that this event brings to them is a highlight.

In addition to all these technical benefits, participating in competitive programming events is also extremely fun for those who love solving challenges! On the days when the competition takes place, the immersion in this world is complete, as you will be in an environment where 100% of the people share the same tastes for challenges and, thus, the competitors feel part of a community. Such a community is very strong, where bonds of friendship are created that spread throughout the country. It is very common for competitors to meet other people and start exchanging contacts to maintain study groups or even just for fun after the event. Several parallel events to the official competitions (such as winter and summer schools to prepare for the competition) are developed by groups that were formed through the contact started during the competitions.

Interested in being part of this community? Talk to the professors at your institution and ask them to spread the word and sign up a team! Registration for the regional phase of the SBC Programming Marathon (which qualifies for the national final that is taking place this weekend) normally opens in July/August, with the first phase taking place in September. While the official competition doesn't take place, organize your team and train with beecrowd problems!

This year, beecrowd is the official sponsor of the final of the Programming Marathon (Latin American qualifier for the world final) and will mirror the competition on the same date as the official contest. This means that if you were left out of the finals, you can try to solve the same problems that ranked teams will solve in Gramado.

On our website, the mirror contest will start on Saturday, April 2nd, one hour after the start of the official contest. The forecast is that the mirror contest will then start on Apr 2nd at 6:00pm (UTC) (equivalent to Apr 2nd at 3:00pm Brasilia; Apr 3rd at 12:00am Dhaka), will last 5 hours and all problems will be in the English.

The mirror contest is now available on the beecrowd portal, just access HERE, and click JOIN to register (if you already have a beecrowd account). If not, create your account to be able to sign up too! Don't miss this opportunity to compete!

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Jessica Dagostini is a Principal System Architect at beecrowd. She has a Masters in Computer Science from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and has had the opportunity to participate in Programming Marathons around Latin America.