November 9, 2021 November 2021 Round-up (AKA What’s Poppin?)

This November at Topcoder is a doozy of a month! We’ve got the 2021 Topcoder Open finals, our first-ever Freelancer Fair, and a Virtual Boot Camp on the schedule. Not to mention our next Topcoder Nation Show #11: AMA with lunarkid on Nov 25, 2021 at 10:00 UTC-5. 

Basically, we want to dedicate this month to giving our amazing community every opportunity to succeed and grow in their career at Topcoder and beyond.

TCO21 Finals

Saturday, November 13 – Saturday, November 20

Check out the schedule for the week here for a specific agenda and times. 

Topcoder Open is our annual, highly-anticipated week-long programming and design tournament. Finalists from all over the globe compete for first place through various coding challenges. Every year, our members blow us away with their ingenuity, persistence, and  humor. And trust us, our TCO21 finalists interviews DO NOT disappoint. 

Some of our fave interview moments include:

When asked about a favorite childhood memory:

“Have you tried repeatedly pressing the square root button of a calculator? In my childhood I was fond of the cases where it converged to 0.9999998.” – lyrically

“I was around 10 or 11, we were building some kind of fortress among the trees. I wanted to test if one of my defense traps worked. It did. I was hit on the head with a brick so badly that my mom needed to take me to the doctor.” – vdave

“As a child, I loved to scribble on walls and equipment at home. Maybe this was the forerunner of my career as an UI/UX designer.” – iqbalhood

“Throwing water balloons and pouring water through water guns at pedestrians was the funniest thing we used to do in our childhood as a part of the festival called Holi.” – Creeya

Best tip(s) for success:

“Don’t focus on one thing when you get stuck. It’s actually advice for solving problems during a contest, but somehow it works on a larger scale, too.” – SpyCheese

“Definitely not applicable to everybody, but I think this advice was really important for me: if you’re regularly waking up to an alarm, then something is wrong. You are effectively saying that your responsibilities or activities are more important than your health, and while that may be true for some and in the short term, often the right long term decision is to reconsider one’s priorities to either be able to go to bed early enough or to shift the responsibilities from the morning.” – Petr

“Whatever you do, always give 100%. Unless you’re donating blood.” – eisbilir

“I am always positive. I find the silver-lining in the clouds. I read somewhere that “Your personal happiness is directly correlated to the amount of effort you apply to personal excellence”. If you are moving in life, you will feel positivity because there is momentum. If you stop, you will start feeling negativity toward life or feeling depressed.” – achaudhari

“Don’t give unsolicited advice to people.” – Psyho

“Never give up! Fail and learn and then start over until you succeed.” – DaraK

On their values:

“Quality of life. Who knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow! It’s nice to have future planning, but I don’t want to ruin my present just to secure my future.” – Debjitdj

“Time and trust. Because both are like glass. Once broken you can’t get them back.” – XnivaXhzne

Make sure to tune in during TCO21 to cheer on the competitors and be inspired by what global crowdsourcing in technology can do for you, and for the world!

Freelancer Fair

Tuesday, November 16th, 8:00AM – 11:00AM EST UTC -5

(Check the registration link for exact schedule)

This ~free~ event isn’t just for TCO finalists! All members are invited to join us for our first-ever Freelancer Fair and learn more about freelancing, opportunities, trends, and tips to help you succeed. 

In addition to a one-hour networking session and our incredible speakers, we will be giving time for individualized guidance and Q&A sessions. And truly, would it be a Topcoder event without prizes and merch? (Answer: it wouldn’t. So come for the prizes!) 

The Topcoder Experience: Virtual Bootcamp

Wed, Nov 10th, 8:00AM EST UTC -5 – Fri, Nov 12th, 12:30PM EST UTC -5

In an effort to support our beginning members in design, code, UX, and more, we’ve developed a new educational initiative: virtual bootcamp! All Topcoder members are welcome to attend. 

These talented members have learned through experience so you don’t have to! Think of this event like a career orientation–we’ll go through all the fundamentals needed to take on gigs and competitions.

Members will be guided by several of Topcoder’s well-known and high-performing members. Throughout this boot camp, they will teach members how to compete, how to use the tools and platform, and the tricks to win challenges LIVE!

Visit the registration link for more information, and stay tuned for updates and more ways we can promote opportunity for all.