Can you compete?

DogSoldier

Is anyone here familiar with TopCoder [TC]? Primarily an online Programming Competition - TC brings the best and brightest in the world together to compete in Algorithm, Component Design, Component Development and Graphic Design. Winners are awarded cash payouts and royalties. I've been a member of the Studio track (Graphic Design) since January. I recently attended TopCoder Collegiate Challenge 2007 [TCCC07] held at Disney World, as part of the Studio review board. In addition to TCCC07, there are 2 other major onsite competitions including TC High School and TopCoder Open. At TCCC07 out of a field of 80 participants, representing 27 countries, there were only 8 North Americans (2 Canadian, 6 U.S.), which I found disappointing. TC doesn’t make a lot of sense if you are an established developer, but if you are young and just starting out, this is a great way to gain experience (And for Graphic Designers, to build a portfolio) and learn from the best. It also has the potential of being very lucrative.

You can learn more about TopCoder here: http://www.topcoder.com

DogSoldier

I finished in 8th place in the Online Round of TopCoder Open 2008 [TCO08], so I and the other 11 other top finishers will be competing at the Onsite Rounds to be held at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. That's just the Studio Track. All told, there will be 120 members competing for $260,000 in prizes. This years sponsors are AOL, Lilly, the National Security Agency and VeriSign. It's a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to it. Wish me luck!

If you think you are good enough, join TopCoder and use my alias as a reference - dogsoldier39 (All lowercase!)
http://www.topcoder.com/reg/

More about TopCoder Open 2008
http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=home

More about TopCoder
http://www.topcoder.com

BuddyJ

Sounds cool! Congrats!

Winfrey

Good on ya DogSoldier! get a proverbial piece of that $260,000 prize