September 19, 2016 TCO Regional Events – Where Talent Meets Opportunity!
A guest post written by: talesforce – Development Track Member Since 2012
Over the last couple of years, I’ve had the good fortune of attending multiple TCO regional events – apart from the TCO14 finals that I wrote about in my last post.
As they say, the first impression is the last impression – and I whole-heartedly agree to that. For me, the TCO regionals have been an extension of the TCO finals offering the similar value proposition, albeit at a regional scale.
Last year, I attended the TCO15 regional India and the TCO15 regional in San Francisco (it helps to be in town when there’s a TCO regional event going on). And last month, I had the good forutne to be in attendance at the TCO16 regional India event. And having attended these regionals as well as the TCO finals, I just couldn’t help connect the dots between all of them.
TCO Regionals India
India has a lot of amazing young talent but unfortunately our education system is still quite dated and in serious need of overhauling. Like last year, the TCO regional in India was all about young talent. In fact, if I had to pick the oldest person in the room, it would be either me or Adam Morehead (aka adroc). The venue was full of young people – a lot of them still at University and raring to learn and compete.
Although the TCO India regionals was attended by veteran TopCoder members such as hi4sandy, RaviJune, systic and several others, the focus clearly was on grooming the next generation of champion developers, designers and algorithm masters.
The other thing that stands out about India regionals is the scale of the event. Being the second most populated country in the world has it’s own perils, but it also implies that India offers an unparalleled opportunity in terms of numbers. India accounts for 29% of TopCoder members and it’s reflected in the full-house that showed up at both the TCO India regional events so far.
TCO Regionals San Francisco (2015)
There’s possibly no better place than the heart of Silicon Valley to do a TCO regional event. Most of the folks in attendance worked for startups and their hustling attitude showed in the way they approached the hackathon or the SRM. The other huge advantage of holding an event in San Francisco is that you get access to top-notch technology companies such as MemSQL, Google as not just hosts, but prospect employers as well.
Talk about getting a platform to showcase your skills in front of some dream companies and the opportunity is right there!
And the best part is that over the last year, TCO regionals have expanded to new territories. While I’ve not participated in these in-person, I’ve followed them online and I’ve particularly been intrigued by these two regional events.
TCO16 Saint Petersburg Russia Regionals
If you dream about a line up of some of the best problem solvers in the world, that’s exactly what the TCO16 Saint Petersburg Russia regionals offered. Talk about names like Tourist, Egor, Petr and several others and it doesn’t get any bigger than this.
A star-studded line up and an opportunity to learn about algorithms and problem solving from the best of the best in the world! It does not get any better than this.
TCO16 Beijing China Regionals
China has been a huge powerhouse since the early days of TopCoder featuring some of the most experienced co-pilots and development track members. While some of them have been associated with the early days of TopCoder and are still going strong, there are lots of others who’re relatively new but have already made their presence felt.
Wrapping it up
While the TCO finals is a unique experience in itself, the regional events are a great way of spreading the TCO goodness across the globe and providing a unique platform to match talent with some amazing opportunities. If you’ve attended a TCO regional or a TCO final, we encourage you to share your experience with us!
