TCO17 Finalist Interviews

Interview with birdofpreyru

How has Topcoder changed your life?
After my initial success at Topcoder, I have quit my regular full-time job as a postdoctorate researcher at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, and have become self-employed, full-time Topcoder competitor, and, later, copilot as well. I moved to a new city, Valenica, and now I am enjoying working from my beautiful new home with a nice roof-top terrace overlooking the neighborhood.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All are great, but having Topcoder itself as the customer gives me the best feelings, as in this case we not only do a great job, but also contribute into the further growth and success of our community.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Visiting TCO16 as a trip-winner was a great experience! So happy to go TCO17 as a competitor this time.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Roughly a year ago I had no idea what AngularJS, NodeJS, and ReactJS are, and my JavaScript skills were at a very basic level. In a very short time I have mastered these and other technologies new to me, and managed to win quite many Topcoder challenges using them. It was hell a lot of work on my side, but looking back I am really proud with my progress in this year.

Best music album to code to?
I have not listen music by albums for a while now. Usually I just search for some music mix in YouTube and it satisfies my needs for background music. Some “Relaxing Blues Mix” search works pretty good for me lately.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I cannot choose between Callmekatootie and Ghostar. I have participated in many challenges copiloted by each of them, and those were usually very well balanced between the scope and prize.

How did you get into programming?
I was a fond of sci-fi books and computer games in my school years. Programming has always attracted me as a thing related to both of those hobbies. Unfortunately, I did not manage to get on an education track directly focused on programming and software development. I have learned some basics of programming as a hobby, and did use it during my undergrads in physics. I ended up doing my PhD study related to computational physics, and later worked as a postdoctoral researcher in computational chemistry. Although I wrote a lot of C++ code for my research needs, I was not able to get to the next level and find my way to a serious software-development industry. I have failed on-site interviews with Google, and different other companies replied to my CV that I am under qualified for their job offers. When I though there was no hope, I discovered Topcoder, and it works so good for me. It is so cool that our community is open to everybody, and does not judge newcomers by their background and experience, giving everybody an equal opportunity to show off and polish their talents.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Microsoft Visual Studio Code. Before becoming an active Topcoder competitor, I was using Qt Creator for some years for programming in C++ / Qt. As many of Topcoder projects use JavaScript, I had to look for a new IDE, and I just tried MVSC first, because of the well-known brand-name in the title. It turned out to be quite good for my needs, so I have never tried other options.

What books do you recommend?
Recently I have read Maus (by Art Spiegelman). It is not a fresh reading at all, but I have enjoyed it.

Tabs or spaces?
Spaces.

Interview with chok68

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Living in a constant race but working from home is good.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I enjoyed working with Quartz energy OCR projects

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I try to be serious with Topcoder community members :)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
In the beginning I was looking for a place to work and searched around the city (cafes, bar or business incubators) but finally I found myself very comfortable working at home.

Best music album to code to?
Lupillo Rivera - En Acustico

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Difficult to answer. I found there are some really good ones

How did you get into programming?
I was going to work as agronomist but one day a rep from a computer school came home and from there I engaged.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Eclipse (from the times we used to do some Salesforce projects)

What books do you recommend?
I enjoyed Jules Verne science fiction books

Tabs or spaces?
Spaces by pressing Tab

Interview with fivestarwy

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder is part of my life now.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Many projects on Topcoder are interesting, if I have enough time, I will compete, otherwise I will try to participate as a reviewer.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I got 4th place in stage 2 but was lucky to get the chance to TCO17 Finals.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Trip winner of TCO14 and TCO15, and now TCO17.

Best music album to code to?
No preference, depends on the mood

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All copilots I have met are great :)

How did you get into programming?
I started programming after I went to college.

Which IDE do you use and why?
IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, VS Code

What books do you recommend?
Zero to One

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs

Interview with jiangliwu

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Read Topcoder emails everyday, refresh challenges page every hour or open slack every hour.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Maybe backend projects, or any project that I can do.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Honestly, winning the money.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Got my 6th win in a row.

Best music album to code to?
Energy Drink, Fade, or some electronic album else.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
talesforce, Standlove, Ghostar. I think their projects requirements are more clear.

How did you get into programming?
My university course is software engineering, after graduation I was engaged in programming work.

Which IDE do you use and why?
jetbrains’s ide, like intellij idea , webstorm.

Interview with ketzjs09

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Discovering Topcoder has changed my life in several ways. On the financial and lifestyle side of things, it has allowed me to setup my life in very unique ways, such as living in Goa long-term (my favorite place in India) and working according to my own terms.

On the tech side of things, I knew about quite a few stuff theoretically, but never got a chance to put them into practical use. It was only when I joined Topcoder, could I quickly put to use whatever I had learned. You can literally start learning about something today on YouTube and if you’re confident enough, you can start using it in a real world problem on Topcoder the next day.

I don’t think there’s any other way I could’ve got a chance of working on such a large variety of problems, languages and tools within a span of just 2-3 years. I think Topcoder and crowdsourcing in general is the sweet-spot between a regular day job and having your own business, which to me feels like how work should be in 21st century.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
My favorite Topcoder project has to be my first challenge. Was pretty surreal to realize that I have just earned around $200 on the internet in something that didn’t look like a scam!

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Being promised a geek joke T-shift from Jessie for posting its picture.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I think, winning the ‘Living Progress - Data to Drops - Multiclass Learning and Classification’ challenge. It was nice to come 1st in this competition, which had 21 submissions (the maximum I’ve seen in any of my challenges till now), knowing that my work would contribute to the noble cause of improving water supply in Africa.

Best music album to code to?
Strangely enough, I’ve been listening to a lot of Russian pop songs recently while working, like those by a girl group named ‘Serebro’. :D

I guess this is how it works: ‘Russian anything’ + coding = Great Results!

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
There are so many, but my absolute favorites are kbowerman and gondzo working together, because their specs are usually outstandingly clear and they don’t seem to back away from implementing out-of-the-box scorecards and review strategies whenever the situation demands.

How did you get into programming?
Learned the basics in high school (mostly C and BASIC) and had some intro courses in the first year of my Computer Science Bachelor’s course. But I started learning programming seriously only after getting inspired by the movie ‘Social Network’, which made me realize that one doesn’t need formal training in some technology to start creating serious software products and that these skills can be acquired independently.

On the machine learning/data science side of things, I started researching into the state-of-the-art of Artificial Intelligence & cognitive science after JARVIS caught my attention while re-watching the movie Iron man II and I started researching what AI technologies are currently available and how far are we from the real deal. Since then, working towards strong AI has been one of my major goals in life, and in the process, I’ve learned about machine learning, which has allowed me to win some tightly fought challenges here on Topcoder.

So basically movies have played a huge part in my life!

Which IDE do you use and why?
if OS is Windows:
“Notepad++” #Because it’s pretty lightweight and I’m used to it
else:
“Visual Studio Code” #Overall a good editor (when Notepad++ not available!)

What books do you recommend?
My top 5 would be:

1. Programming Collective Intelligence by Toby Segaran

2. Elon Musk’s Biography by Ashlee Vance

3. Benjamin Franklin’s Biography by Walter Issacson

4. Albert Einstein’s Biography by Walter Issacson

5. Howard Hughes’s Biography by Donald L. Barlett et al.
   (Yeah, I’m mostly into biographies!)

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs

Interview with NightWolf

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Now I work remotely and have much more free time.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
John Hancock, WWF

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
There was a lot of fun in the pub we went to on the final day of TCO16 :)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I won bronze medal in IOI 2005 without much preparation. Also I’m proud of becoming TCO16 and TCO17 finalist. In terms of sports, I’m proud of winning some high level karting tournaments in my country.

Best music album to code to?
Disturbed - Immortalized

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Wendell

How did you get into programming?
Started having fun with QBasic when I was in 6th grade in school.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Visual Studio. I’m just used to it :)

What books do you recommend?
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Tabs or spaces?
spaces

Interview with ouyangki

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder gave me a chance to work at home after I quit my job.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Yes, I participated in a series of challenges that try to implement the native part of react-native, it’s very impressive.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Wining my first challenge.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Become a TCO17 finalist.

Best music album to code to?
No preference

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I’ve been cooperating with birdofpreyru on several challenges recently, I’d say he is a responsible copilot.

How did you get into programming?
Oh, I had to learn programming to get my degree.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Sublime
It’s lightweight, compact and fast

What books do you recommend?
To Live

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs

Interview with seriyvolk83

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Almost entirely. Due to non standardized working days, it switched my decisions from “What I can afford myself?” to “What I want?”

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Hercules

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
4st place at TCO16 (Development track)

Best music album to code to?
A State of Trance 2015 (Armin van Buuren)

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I cannot single out someone. Most of them are great professionals. They differ from each other, but together they compound a best teams.

How did you get into programming?
I have been a computer geek since school. I made my first website in 1998 which allowed our school team to visit Sweden and initiated a cooperation between my school in Medvezhegorsk and the school in Mala community, Sweden.

I moved from c++ to php and Adobe ActionScript, then to Java, then to Swift.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Xcode. You know why =)

What books do you recommend?
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, any short stories by Chekhov

Tabs or spaces?
tabs

Interview with Sky_

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Finally, I can drink real champagne 😆

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Guys from UTC are the best.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I won a $500 challenge by writing 1 line of code.

Best music album to code to?
HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Clients are the best copilots.

How did you get into programming?
It just happened.

Which IDE do you use and why?
WebStorm

What books do you recommend?
“Everything Men Know About Women”

Tabs or spaces?
TC standards force us to use spaces.

Interview with daft300punk

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Well, if you look at my competition history, a year back or so, being a Design student I was taking part in design challenges (some crappy designs for sure). Design wasn’t for me, so I decided to give Code challenges a try. Having a background in science/math helped, but things were still very new. Initially, I just registered to challenges, downloaded any accompanying code/docs and tried to make sense out of it. Then, I submitted to a few fun challenges. The goal was to learn, and get feedback on what was wrong. When I had college summer vacations this year, I took things more seriously, and here I am now, having learned so many things due to Topcoder.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Nope. It’s all the same, just that some are more challenging than others.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Again, as I said, I was participating in Design challenges at first, gave development challenges a try, was expecting to maybe have a chance in Newbie/Cognitive Leaderboard, but won a trip in F2F.

Best music album to code to?
daft punk.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
birdofpreyru. He explains things pretty well in the forum.

Which IDE do you use and why?
VS Code.

What books do you recommend?
The Name of the Rose. Reading more than 4 pages would give me head aches. Not for the faint hearted.

Tabs or spaces?
Spaces.

Interview with gondzo

How has Topcoder changed your life?
I stopped doing most of the work close to the deadlines :)

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Do we count Topcoder as a customer of Topcoder ?

Best music album to code to?
Any smooth jazz will do !

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
talesforce

How did you get into programming?
When I got my first PC 15 years ago.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Intelli-XX, anything by Jetbrains really
Sublime text as well for easier tasks

What books do you recommend?
None

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs

Interview with ian-sadovy

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Now I know how to code 80 hours a week. :)

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
As for the customer or project, I do not have any favorites. I think Topcoder prepares a very good selection of respective customers. It is always fun to participate in their projects.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
The funniest? Being a TCO17 finalist! It was a great surprise for me to understand this. I have scored some points on Stage 1 and after 6 months received a newsletter with my name on the leaderboard. Unexpected success. :)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
My first win! It’s an amazing feeling. The funny thing is, it was a F2F challenge (my current track at TCO17).

Best music album to code to?
How about “The Chronic” by Dr. Dre? :)

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I can’t say that I have broad experience at Topcoder, but a lot of my challenges were somehow connected with callmekatootie. It was a great pleasure to work with him.

How did you get into programming?
When I was 15 I wanted to create my own computer game. I had to buy a book and learn Visual Basic. :)

Which IDE do you use and why?
Nothing special, in most cases Sublime Text is enough. It is really flexible and lightweight.

What books do you recommend?
“Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100” by Michio Kaku.

Tabs or spaces?
Both of them ;)

Interview with mishacucicea

How has Topcoder changed your life?
It reminded me who am I and what my passions are. It’s a place where values are not just words on a paper, but truly talented individuals can express themselves by contributing and doing extraordinary things.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
There were multiple projects from John Hancock which gave me the opportunity to try out various technologies.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Not sure if it’s the funnies thing, but it surely made me feel good, it was an instance when I managed to get 1st place into a challenge, being initially in 2nd place.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
It was the early days of me competing, when I had a Top 5 placement into the Digital Run for development.

Best music album to code to?
Lately I like the soundtrack from Suits TV Series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Y2h8qUc3M)

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Wendell, because most of the times challenge scope is clear and challenges go smooth. Nevertheless, lately I had a very good collaboration with Talesforce as well.

How did you get into programming?
Being a mathematics enthusiast since primary school, it was natural that programming followed that, and I got a programming education in high school and further on in the University.

Which IDE do you use and why?
As my first choice is working with .NET and related technologies, I primarily use Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, which seems to be catching up with other cross-platform IDEs. I’ve tried other IDEs, like Atom, Sublime, but they couldn’t make me completely switch. I can’t wait to meet other TCO competitors to see their way of working.

What books do you recommend?
“Continuous Delivery” - Dave Farley
“From good to great” - James C. Collins

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs - efficiency comes from doing more using less.

Interview with mohhasbias

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Flexibility.
Options.
No string attached.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
My favorite projects are web technology related projects.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Learn new technology under a week.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Learned MEAN stack for a week and got 4th place.

Best music album to code to?
No music. Just code.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
lunarkid and fajar.mln

Both helped me enter the Topcoder community.

How did you get into programming?
My first program was in my first semester of college.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Visual studio code.

I’m trying to use webstorm but can’t work it out yet so I use visual studio code after trying sublime text, bracket, and atom.

What books do you recommend?
Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!: A Beginner’s Guide by Miran Livopaca

Tabs or spaces?
spaces

Interview with thomaskranitsas

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder has entirely changed my life. Now I’m a full-time Topcoder competitor and reviewer and every day is a new challenge for me. Working for so many awesome clients and so many different projects always using the cutting-edge technologies was the best thing that could happen to me.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I don’t have a favorite. All of them are amazing!

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Winning a challenge using a framework I’d never heard before with almost a perfect score.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I won 3rd place at TCO16 (UI PROTOTYPE) and now I will compete in two different tracks (UI PROTOTYPE and F2F) at TCO17.

Best music album to code to?
Music + code = bugs

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All of them are great but I’ve worked most with Ghostar and callmekatootie.

How did you get into programming?
I was very young (like 13yo) when I got my first laptop. The first week I was playing games and the second week I wrote my first program in Visual Basic. It was a very simple program but it was enough to make me get into programming. I started studying about algorithms and c++ and after few weeks I was able to solve many algorithmic problems. Now I can’t even tell in how many different languages/technologies I’ve worked and I’m always interested in learning new languages/technologies.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Atom. It’s very fast, lightweight and I can modify it so it’ll meet my needs.

What books do you recommend?
I don’t read books :)

Tabs or spaces?
In most cases spaces (by pressing tab) but it also depends on the language. Can you imagine a python program written using spaces? :p

Interview with veshu

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Now weekends are in front of the Computer.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Not yet

Best music album to code to?
Any Instrumental songs mostly I listen Kutumba

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Wendell, very friendly and professional. I rarely get a chance to work with others.

How did you get into programming?
Accidentally joined Computer science at university.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Visual studio as there is no choice :-) and VS code for rest

What books do you recommend?
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs

Interview with blackmath

How did you get into programming?
I took a programming class in high school.

Which IDE do you use and why?
vim - it’s simple, fast and powerful

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
The day after my first TCO onsite competition I was walking through a shopping mall and heard someone shouting “Hey, Topcoder!”. I looked around expecting to see a fellow Topcoder. It turned out the guy talking to me had no idea what Topcoder was all about. He continued with “Hey Google”, “Hey Facebook” - he was just reading out the names of the sponsors on my brand new TCO t-shirt, trying to get my attention and trying to sell me some stuff.

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
Against Psyho. I do compete for the thrill of the competition and like competing against the strongest. In a head to head against Psyho, I have nothing to lose.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
When it comes to Topcoder the great greatest achievements are winning against Petr in chess and defeating SnapDragon in Connect Four. Next challenge to come is playing table tennis with wleite.

Best music album to code to?
White Stripes - Elephant

What books do you recommend?
Douglas Hofstadter - Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Tabs or spaces?
Spaces.

Interview with CatalinT

How did you get into programming?
Started with VB when I was little. Seemed fun and I could program games.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Sublime3 for C++ because it’s quick and easy to use.

PyCharm / WebStorm for general programming since these editors have a lot of features.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Hm, nothing I can recall :)

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
Probably ACRush, since he seems to have retired after his 2015 Marathon Final win. I will meet most of the other competitors in the final this year :)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
In the context of Topcoder, winning both Machine Learning and Fun Marathon challenges and qualifying for my 3rd consecutive Marathon final.

Best music album to code to?
Classical music for doing ‘peaceful’ coding.

Rock music for when the pace is intense (during the TCO final).

What books do you recommend?
I like books that have a behavioral psychology component since they are applicable in day-to-day life.

Tabs or spaces?
Irrelevant :P

Interview with chokudai

How did you get into programming?
Programming contest for high school students in Japan.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Visual Studio 2017. There are no other choices for C# users.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I can not read and write English, so I use a translation website when reading problem sentences. It was very interesting that there were a lot of people taking photographs of the screen that I am translating when I used the translation site with TCO for the first time.

(Of course, I also use Google Translate to create this answer.)

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
Psyho. He is the strongest marathon competitor.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Establishment of AtCoder Inc.

Best music album to code to?
rain sound.

What books do you recommend?
“最強最速アルゴリズマー養成講座” in Japanese. This is a reference book of Topcoder which I wrote, which is released in Japan.

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs.

Interview with marek.cygan

How did you get into programming?
I borrowed a book from a friend of my father about Pascal, and I liked programming right away.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Pycharm, because it is best for python and I do not use IDE for C++.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
When someone asked me about my handle.

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
Psyho, I like to compete with the best.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I have great family.

Best music album to code to?
I like instrumental music for coding.

What books do you recommend?
I read too few of them unfortunately.

Tabs or spaces?
spaces

Interview with Milanin

How did you get into programming?
My father is a software engineer. So I have always been close to computers and programming.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Visual Studio. I started with VS 6.0 and it was very easy to start. It is the only IDE where debugging is not painful. And after all I work at Microsoft now.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I once made a single full submission during the whole marathon match (TCO 2016 round 2). It was made 15 mins before the end. And due to long queue it had only been tested in a couple of hours later. So I got my first points for the problem in a couple of hours after match had finished.

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
vitar and bayleef. They are my former ACM teammates. It is all about having a good time with friends. We have previously had a rule that the one of us with the greatest TC rating is playing a role of captain in our ACM team.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Winning the SRM div-1, considering that 7 targets (including tourist) were participating in it.

Best music album to code to?
I prefer Beetles. But I don’t listen to music that much, and never during coding.

What books do you recommend?
HPMOR

Tabs or spaces?
Doesn’t really matter to me

Interview with mugurelionut

How did you get into programming?
I copied QBasic code from a book when I was maybe in ~5th grade. It was supposed to be an interesting game, and I loved playing games at the time.

I started competitive programming in 9th grade, when I failed to qualify to the national olympiad in Informatics, but a colleague of mine did. Not really used to not being the best in my class :) I trained much more the next year and then managed to qualify. But I also qualified to the national Physics olympiad, so I had to choose which one to attend (they both took place simultaneously). I had actually trained more in Physics, but I still felt that I didn’t know enough. While with Informatics, although I knew far less, I thought I could always write some random program, and maybe I’d get lucky and get the correct answer on some tests - it seemed a no brainer that it should be easier to score many points in a programming competition, right? :D

Which IDE do you use and why?
Dev C++ - it’s free.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I remember talking with CatalinT in early 2015 about how hard it is to rank high in Topcoder Marathon contests, that there are so many experienced competitors, that qualifying to the TCO Finals is virtually impossible… We both qualified to the TCO Finals that year.

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
ACRush :) When I first started solving Marathon-like problems (on another web site; I didn’t know what the Topcoder Marathon track was about then), ACRush was winning every contest there. Even after I got better and started thinking that I’d have a chance of scoring better than him, he would make a late submission (last hours of a 10-day contest) which would often be much better than anything anyone else had :) I learned quite a few tricks from reading the code of his winning solutions.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
TCOMarathonFinals++;

Best music album to code to?
The sound of silence :) I prefer coding without listening to anything. I find that music distracts me when I work.

What books do you recommend?
Any Terry Pratchett book. I also enjoyed quite a lot books written by Ken Follett (e.g. Pillars of the Earth, World without End, The Century Trilogy).

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs, but I’m not against having them automatically converted to spaces.

Interview with nhzp339

How did you get into programming?
I started programming at about 10 years old, affected by my father, who is a programming engineer.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Used to just use notepad++ as it’s light and simple. Now also use Clion for some work.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
A lot of people asked me why I use such a weird handle. Actually I would not choose that handle (Some abbreviation in Chinese plus a random number) at all if I knew I will be glued to this community so long.

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
ACRush. I’d like to discuss more Marathon problems with him but he is so busy nowadays.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I still have the same basic opinion as 20 years ago about many things in the world.

Best music album to code to?
Xian Lai Qing Shen(music album for Chinese paladin series game)

What books do you recommend?
I don’t think any book is better than learning from net or your own mistakes nowadays.

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs.

Interview with PaulJefferys

How did you get into programming?
I wanted to do the Informatics Olympiad because the questions looked neat. So I taught myself.

Which IDE do you use and why?
XCode on a Mac for C++ because its there. Eclipse or Intellij for Java and RStudio for R both because that’s what my teams have used.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I managed to arrange my first date with my wife in the middle of a programming contest. I spent a fair bit of time thinking that I should move the date but in the end I missed an hour of the contest!

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
I’m pretty excited about going up against Psyho at Marathon. He’s got this really annoying habit of explaining what he did post match and you think ‘oh, that’s so obvious’. But of course, it wasn’t at the time because you didn’t do it.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Getting more points than Psyho in the TCO qualification (ok, I know that’s not fair, he didn’t even try.)

Best music album to code to?
Nightwish

What books do you recommend?
Master of the Senate by Robert Caro. It is a wonderful piece of writing. I don’t know any books that are even close to being in the same league as it.

Tabs or spaces?
I’ve never given it much thought. Now if we could instead discuss the relative merits of UK and US keyboards…

Interview with Psyho

How did you get into programming?
I wanted to make games, I failed.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Notepad++ / VIsual Studio. Best lightweight editor / IDE that I used. Not worth it to search for other options.

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
Snapdragon in video games.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Me no proud.

Best music album to code to?
Any hard/progressive trance set will do.

What books do you recommend?
None.

Tabs or spaces?
t

Interview with tomerun

How did you get into programming?
I started programming when I was employed as a software engineer.

Which IDE do you use and why?
IntelliJ or Sublime Text

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I have experienced my first foreign travel in TCO12 (and this TCO17 is my second foreign travel).

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
wata. Because he is one of the marathon legends and I want to see his excellent algorithm again.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I ran 100 kilometers in a day.

Best music album to code to?
Beatmania series original soundtrack

What books do you recommend?
The Elements of Computing Systems (From NAND to Tetris)

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs.

Interview with wleite

How did you get into programming?
One day, when I was 9 years old, my father brought home a Sinclair ZX81.
It really caught my attention, and after few hours, I managed to type some “code” in BASIC that printed a sequence of numbers. Nothing very useful, but amazing at that time.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Eclipse. I have been using it for so many years that now it is my only option.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I had lots of fun all these years, especially during TCO events.
Not sure if funny would be the best definition, but everyone taking their shoes and putting TC socks to access the closing reception of TCO15 (and the location itself), was something pretty unusual :-D

If you could go head to head with another algorithm or marathon competitor, who would you want to compete against and why?
blackmath! He is a great friend, very skilled marathon competitor and a true sportsman, so he won’t get upset if I win ;-)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Being competitive after so many years .

Best music album to code to?
Any album from the Scorpions.

What books do you recommend?
Unfortunately, I haven’t read any book since my first son was born (five years ago) :-(

Tabs or spaces?
My default preference is tabs, but I fine with spaces too :-)

Interview with Ariefk

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Like a miracle, things change for the better.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Almost all project are my favorite and I’m totally enjoying.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Failed screening and talk with copilot to apologize about that and then WIN…

Best music album to design to?
X Japan and Dewa19

What books do you recommend?
Quran

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Fajar Maulana. Because he is funny :P
But…I love all of them. Thanks to them guiding in every challenge.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Alberto Cerriteno

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
CHICKEN!
They always come in through the window and stand in front of my monitor without guilt.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Chrome!

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Apple. Need fresh fruit instead of bite marks.

Interview with chekspir

How has Topcoder changed your life?
I became a person more passionate about my work.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I really enjoy working with different customers, each one is unique. If I have to choose, my favorites would be General Electric, John Hancock and 3DSystems.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Languages barriers are really funny in Topcoder. Sometimes talking with members we try to say something and people understand another. Because of this, I have really good memories of moments shared with my fellow mates from Topcoder laughing so loud all the time.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I’m proud of many achievements in Topcoder, like 5th place at the TCO15 at Indonesia, or several 1st places on LUXs challenges. But honestly for me my biggest achievement on Topcoder is being able to qualify for TCO17 especially for the current circumstances in my life. It has not been easy at all to compete on Topcoder these days for me.

Best music album to design to?
Being a musician myself, it is really hard to me pick a single album to design to. I love rock music, so it’s the musical genre that I listen to. My favorite music albums and those that I listen to most when designing are: “Ride the Lighting” (Metallica), “In Rock” (Deep Purple), “The Dark Side of the Moon” (Pink Floyd) and “British Steel” from Judas Priest.

What books do you recommend?
I love crime novels books like the “Millenium” series by Stieg Larsson, and “The Professor” by John Katzenbach.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I don’t have any personal favorite copilot; I really enjoy to work with all my fellow copilots like, Fajar, Mahestro, Maroosh, Lunarkid, Blake, Trevor, Adam.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
My favorite designer ever is Jonathan “Jony” Ive; the chief design officer of Apple.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
I don’t like when my phone rings, so my phone is always on vibration.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, Illustrator and Firefox. Even when this last one is not a design application, I use it a lot when designing, to download files, research, read the challenge specs, etc.

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
I would like to design a new interface for future iOS versions. I have been using iPhone almost since the first version, and I have been a witness of the evolution of the operative system. I have ideas that have not been implemented yet.

Interview with djackmania

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Meet people from around the world and chance to go around the globe.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All projects

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Let’s see in TCO17 :D

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
TCO10 champ

Best music album to design to?
Coldplay

What books do you recommend?
None

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All UI design copilots

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Brad Johnson - Second Story

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Bad mood

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, SketchApp, Illustrator

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Google

Interview with eriantoongko

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder gives me freedom and opportunities to grow. Topcoder also taught me to change my point of view: seek a solution in every problem.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
GE Transportation Challenge. I love when I break my habits while working on these challenges.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Failed on the screening process and won that challenge.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Being a Topcoder Copilot and TCO17 Trip Winner.

Best music album to design to?
Joe Hisaishi in Budokan – 25 years with the Animations of Hayao Miyazaki, Coldplay, Clean Bandit, Anime and Film Scores.

What books do you recommend?
This year I will recommend Origin of Creation Takashi Amano Biography

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All of them. They are really helpful!

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
It’s a tricky one. I’ll go with Hayao Miyazaki, Joe Hisaishi, Paul Rand, Saul Bass.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Distraction: noise and visual.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Mainly Illustrator, Sketch, and Photoshop

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Apple. They need a new brand. 😁

Interview with iamtong

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder provides me the flexibility to work as I can literally work any time or any where. Plus the payments are good that I can invest in other businesses. Also, Topcoder has motivated me to become better in many aspects.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
My favorite project would be Ferguson, this project was when I started and has taught me many things.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I got 1st place on my very first submission for Topcoder, because of some misunderstanding, I was about to get banned from that.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Winning Studio Cup 6 times in a row.

Best music album to design to?
No favorites, just depends on the mood :)

What books do you recommend?
How about WEBTOON? I would recommend Tower of God.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I would say lunarkid, I think I win a lot on his projects :)

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Well yeah, Kaws - pop artist/ designer with X X trademark, Nigo - fashion designer 🐵

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Laziness, Thick head.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
I would pass, I’m bad at logos 😫

Interview with khanhlinh

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Before joining Topcoder, I was a civil engineer. And now I spend all my time doing UI design.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I love every project that I competed, so it is very hard to tell who is my favorite customer. If I have to choose, my favorite customer is Dinnaco, John Hancock.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Win a trip to USA and this is the first time as TCO17 UI finalist.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Being among the top 3 designers in stage 3.

Best music album to design to?
Songs of inspiration - ALABAMA

What books do you recommend?
Creativity: Unleashing the Forces Within - OSHO

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Mahestro (Luis Milan) – he always supports me when I need it.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Bui Xuan Phai – He was one of the most remarkable, most charming and most unusual figures of Vietnamese modern art.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Snooze alarm sound.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and sometime Autocad as I am a civil engineer.

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
As a designer, I want to design as many fields as I can. Designing a world-renown item is also my big dream.

Interview with kharm

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder humbled me, as I find fine members who genuinely aren’t full of themselves but respect each other.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I like project that pushes the boundaries with the latest technologies.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Last year trip to TCO Final was a very fun one :)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Right now, it’s about helping some close people that are really in need. Somehow it feels great to see that you can be used to change someone else’s life.

Best music album to design to?
Usually a compilation one, but most from Hillsong.

What books do you recommend?
Personally, the Bible changed me. ‘Tipping Point’ - Malcolm Gladwell is a memorable one, ‘Don’t make me think’ - Steve Krug is also good for UI/UX Designer, ‘Deep Work’ - Cal Newport is a good one also.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I like maroosh, somehow she is very precise & professional.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
I’m not very attached to any designers. However I like Don Norman, he looks fun.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
I want to change, I don’t wanna be reminded of my pet peeve… :)

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, Sketch, Illustrator.

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
My own company, it’s cost effective to start :)

Interview with Ravijune

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It has changed my life in many aspects, like it helped me achieve my personal goals and I wouldn’t have learned better about interaction design if I hadn’t met this incredible community.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I love all of them!

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Getting lost on the roads of Washington DC during last year TCO16 event with [Mahestro] and [Darak] was just amazing and an unforgettable moment. We were laughing so hard cracking jokes through out the walk trying to figure out the path to the hotel without using google maps :D Also, we boarded the wrong bus at NYC, and entered a wrong Uber cab too later haha :D

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Getting qualified for TCO 3 times.

Best music album to design to?
Continuum - John Mayer

What books do you recommend?
Tools of Titans

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All of them!

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Our member, [iamtong]

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Noise

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, Illustrator, Marvel

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Would like to redesign Nike logo cuz why not :D

Interview with Tewibowo

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder is my starting point in learning the UI/UX world. Topcoder opened many opportunities like having overseas clients, traveling to USA, building relationships with ‘world class’ skill designers, and earning lots of prize money!

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
GE Transportation is challenging and I love it. Every challenge always pushes me to be better about UI/UX.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
#chat-with-gh3ablo

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Being a finalist at TCO16 was really an amazing achievement so far.

Best music album to design to?
Coldplay

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Fajar is my favorite copilot because not only does he follow up in the forums, he keeps following up with competitors by email.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
sagmeister

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
A client who always ask for a quick result with a lot of silly revisions, not a lot of prize money, and demanding an amazing design.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
photoshop, illustrator, chrome

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
I would like to redesign the Apple logo. Who wouldn’t want to redesign it?

Interview with universo

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Zero to Hero

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I totally enjoy all projects, especially their prizes :)

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I didn’t expect to win but sometimes the result placed me as the winner.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Become one of the TCO 17 finalists, highest GPA in my college & reaching 30k+ followers on my Instagram art account @stevedesign_studio (don’t hesitate to follow).

Best music album to design to?
Katy Perry

What books do you recommend?
I’m not a reading book person

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Thanks to all of them who help me to answer all of my questions & guide me in every challenge.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
The people behind Apple design

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Cockroach & Mosquito

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
I’m a fashion addicted person. So if i have a chance, I would redesign Christian Louboutin’s logo. Their logo isn’t my favor, sorry.

Interview with yiming

How has Topcoder changed your life?
I used to be a coder, and now a designer.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I am a big fans of NASA, and very proud to design something for them.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I was very happy about the unforgettable trip of TCO 16 to Washington, DC.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Ten years ago, I won the first ever TCO Studio Champion.

Best music album to design to?
Actually I am used to listening to some history lectures at design time.

What books do you recommend?
“On Top of Tides”, a book about the rise and fall of some famous technology companies.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
They are all good. One of my favorite is Luis (mahestro). He is always very kind and will do his best to help you solve any problems.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Lee Lawrie.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
- What do you need?
- I don’t know!
- When do you need?
- Now!

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator.

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
NASA.

Interview with yoki

How has Topcoder changed your life?
For me Topcoder is life changer for sure. My life has gotten better in many aspects, financial, creativity, friends, and more. Topcoder provides challenges and education to tackle world problems. I have learned so much and been involved in projects for Big Companies that make me feel the atmosphere of Topcoder challenges.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Every customer & projects related with games, new concept, creativity are my favorites :D

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Funniest, happiest, and warmest, we can get all of them in the Topcoder Community.

Traveling in NYC with my TC family, every moment were the funniest moment :D

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
2nd place at TCO12. It was my first time TCO and first time going to the US. I started at the bottom and then crawled to the 2nd place.

Best music album to design to?
Red Hot Chili Peppers

What books do you recommend?
Smurfs Comics :)

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Systic (Shyam)
He has all the goodness from all copilots combined :)

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Abedavera

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Unschedule task pop out: “can you have it done ASAP, client is waiting”
Yeah that’s for sure, my schedule is ruined

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Adobe Photoshop CC, Adobe Illustrator CC, Sketch

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Definitely London Olympics 2012!!
Why? It’s melting my eyes :))

Interview with zazulyaziz

How has Topcoder changed your life?
I become more discipline, more organised, known by some people, I got a new friends, new experiences, I can level up my skill in design field.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Not yet.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I was mocked by my friends at the TCO17 Regional in Jogja, what if I win the contest and get a ticket to step to the final in US. I didn’t really think that’s gonna happen because I only want to finish in top ten. but now, I’m here. LOL

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
none, because I still trying to achieve it.

Best music album to design to?
All Things Bright and Beautiful by Owl City

What books do you recommend?
Quran

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Fajar Maulana H, Because I only know Him. 😂

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Yoga Perdana & Ghani Pradita.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Cat

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Sketch, Illustrator, Browser

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
National Geographic, because I really like it. That’s why I also really want to change it. Such a big challenge in my life.

Interview with daga_sumit

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
I was a derivatives trader for 6 years, after which a career in software development seemed non-sensical. I was on the verge of going back to being a trader when I found Topcoder. Although the success initially was low but i took some heart in it and carried on. My learning curve has been quite slow I feel and I am hoping to make satisfactory progress this year. Maybe attending TCO will give me that push forward.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All projects that i have worked on have helped me improve my skills as a developer. I can’t pick one favorite amongst them. I just hope Topcoder continues to attract great customers and plenty of them.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I was quite sure about qualifying for TCO in the UI prototype category at the end of stage 3 but then I received an email from Jessie, the subject of the email being “TCO17 finals” and my excitement knew no bounds. One of the finalists in stage 1 couldn’t make it and I was next in the list.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I was really proud when I won my first challenge.

Best music album to code to?
I can’t do both simultaneously.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
lunarkid, callmekattotie and systic. They are prompt in their responses in the forums and give to the point and unambiguous answers which I really appreciate.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
birdofpreyru has been quite an inspiration. The progress he has made in a short time is commendable.

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
It has to be javascript because I have done most work in this language :)

Interview with happyesthete

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
Before Topcoder, my life = commute time to office + not so exciting job + old school legacy tech + slow pace learning due to limitations of larger teams + more gossip/time wasting during work + less time to work on my own interests + little travel away from busy city life + less freedom = less productivity + less satisfaction

With Topcoder, my life = challenge choices based on my current interests + exciting cutting-edge tech + fast learning with competitive environment + practical awareness of latest tech even if not actively working on challenge + flexibility to work on my own interests + long vacations away from city (I love to write code but not everyday) + more freedom + first international trip = more productivity + more satisfaction

I used to take a month in office to do same amount of work which we do in a single in topcoder challenge, wasted my years doing a lot of unproductive meetings :)

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I love all the Topcoder projects and customers. Most of the time, I have something new to learn in each and every challenge in some way or the other.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I delayed filling up this form for over a month because of the photo, and irony is that I take a lot of pictures for others with my camera. While attempting to fill my form I realized that I have very few pictures of mine, that too even not good. I went to attend TCO India and forget to get a picture there also, on last day uploading whatever I found in one of my memory card.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Finalist in TCO17 in two tracks, and also I am in the right path of aligning my work and interests.

Best music album to code to?
Try Everything, I love Cheap Thrills, Atif Aslam. But, no music when require high concentration.

What books do you recommend?
I don’t read books, I read documentation of whatever tech I am working.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All the copilots are super intelligent people, they all really inspire me. Some of them I know talesforce, elkhawajah, lunarkid, callmekatootie, wendell, ghostar, mahestro, fajar.mln, chekspir, systic, gondzo, standlove, quesks are legends with special skills.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
I saw livestream of psyho competing in TCO16 and his interview, it blew my mind. He is the smartest coder I have ever seen.

I am also very much inspired by development legends sky_, birdofpreyru, billsedison, ouyangki, vasilica.olariu, soso0574, wcheung, iversonLv, seriyvolk83, nightwolf, pvmagacho, [es], thomaskranitsas, akinwale

iamtong, cendhika, yoki, ravijune, abedavera, picachui, tumeo, selvia_ettine, f0rc0d3r, darak are ux legends who inspires me a lot, these skills are really hard to master.

Special mention for jmpld40 handling the hardest tasks for all of the TCO finalists, and helping when needed.

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
Javascript and Java. Because, these two languages when used together have most robust, complete and mature general purpose and enterprise software development ecosystem.

Interview with hi4sandy

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
Topcoder has definitely changed my life. I can now choose to work on things that I love to work on.
Topcoder also pays the same reward to everyone irrespective of the region they belong to. So let’s say, If I was getting an Americal salary in America then that’s common but if I’m getting American salary in India then that’s something special.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
NASA. I’m glad that NASA uses a website (NASA-PAM) whose user interface was created by me.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Once I submitted the same submission to two different contests. In one I’m the winner while in the other my submission failed to pass screening.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I’ll say it’s my first Topcoder win because if that wouldn’t have happened, I could not be competing here today!!

Best music album to code to?
Time to time it keeps on changing, for the time being, it’s ‘Nazm Nazm’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFx4g4GunYw

What books do you recommend?
I don’t prefer any books. Refer to the online documentation and tutorials and get your hands dirty by the creating anything that makes sense.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
It’s hard for me to pick just one, I have got a number of favorite co-pilots, I always love to working with quesks, lunarkid, ghostar and wendell.

I can’t pick myself because I’ve to be a co-pilot first.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
No designer/developer so far. I’ll say it’s my Dad, he was an engineer in Indian and used to build roads and bridges in the Himalayas, he even worked on world highest motorable road to keep it open throughout the year. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khardung_La

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
React Native with ReactJS and Redux. These are one of the most complex frameworks using which both iOS and Android mobile apps can be build together.

Interview with iversonLv

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
Definitely!!!

“Work hard then get more” that is why I love topcoder.

I could handle all my time, if I feel tired I can have a vacation, play basketball with my friends, play DOTA2 and won’t worry about being fired.

I have much time stay with my baby and family.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
IBM, NASA…FUN CHALLENGES:)

In fact all projects/customers at Topcoder are great.

I get to know what are the popular technologies right now, what are the most favorite technologies of big companies.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
At TCO10 in Las Vegas, I tried to gamble 🎲 but wasn’t sure about the age; whether 21 (22? I don’t remember Las Vegas gamble age) years old --~~~~ 😂

Lucky I brought my passport 😁, andthen~ I lost 40 buck😭

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I attended the TCO and that is the achievement I’m most proud of I believe, Not just a FREE vacation ✈ but could see top coders from all over the world.

Best music album to code to?
I don’t remember specific album or music name, I like to listening randomly.

To be frank, most time I like coding at the midnight silently, Sometimes just think MUSIC is noise. But yes, I love listening to some cartoon music and soft music.🎧

What books do you recommend?
I recommend watching Youtube, Official Document, Forum articles directly, and some paid video tutorial website. Books nowadays will be outdated faster CUZ versions for specific technologies grow faster, so some demo/example won’t work if follow booked but use latest versions codes.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
There are lots of UI Prototype copilots I would thumb up👍, e.g. Lunarkid, Quesks, mahestro, callmekatootie…
Not only do they write a good detailed spec but help us understand what the clients want, and respond quickly in the forums but also help me solve some problems, e.g. callmekatootie help me to understand some github workflow during a Bug Bash I competed in.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
I think my FAVORITES could be ADMIRED.
Most top leader-board developers at Topcoder I am admire, I am happy that I can compete with them in the same platform, secondly I hope some day I could defeat them🎯

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
- JS, CSS, HTML5
They can show guys how wonderful a website is.

- Angular2, mongoDB, nodeJS are my favorite as I AM LEARNING…⌨

Interview with leo.ananth

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
Yes, All good changes happened in my life because of Topcoder. I started to work at Topcoder at 18 without any basic idea ;) Initially gave a lots of funny submissions on the studio side :P but got good feedback to correct me and I learned a lot from other submissions. That was the beginning of my career. Now I’m working and being a glittering resource at a globalized bank at Singapore. All because of Topcoder :)

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All projects; each one helping me to improve :)

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
When I was 18 years old (6 years ago) that time I applied for co-pilot position without any idea about that. :P

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
My first winning on the studio side. That was my first earning too. I felt very rich when I got that money to my account. All happened when I was 18 so I feel very proud of that.

Best music album to code to?
Fast beat songs

What books do you recommend?
FaceBook :P

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
systic, lunarkid, Alex, mahestro - Always fast response in forum

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
Always my brother selvaa89. He is my hero :)

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
Angular2, Ember Because I am getting more opportunities

Interview with moulyg

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
It helps me to improve my coding skills, speed and it keeps me up to date with latest technologies.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Not a specific project or customer - all are equally important for me.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Met Jessie and Nick.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Winning TCO16 UI Prototype championship

Best music album to code to?
Insomniac by Enrique Iglesias

What books do you recommend?
:P

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Not a specific person but I like lunarkid and quesks because very responsive and helpful during the competition.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
gogocrow

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
ReactJS, It will become more and more popular these days

Interview with nghi85

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
I do say YES. Topcoder provides me with the opportunity for improvement of coding skill and having income with good prizes when participating in UI Prototype challenges. Also, Topcoder is a great community that you can learn from other members.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Every UI prototype challenge and the customer related to this challenge is always my favorite.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Participating in TCO16 with TC staff, members.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
TCO16 UI prototype finalist.

Best music album to code to?
Non-stop beats music from YouTube

What books do you recommend?
You Don’t Know JS: Up & Going
JavaScript: The Good Parts

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
lunarkid - detail-oriented and very responsive to questions in forum.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
My favorite designer is khanhlinh not only because of his talent but also he’s my close friend!

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
JavaScript. Nowadays using JavaScript, you can build website, mobile apps for different platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone…

Interview with smtryingcode

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
Topcoder gives me flexibility to work from anywhere and whenever I want. I have learned many new things at Topcoder and have tried to improve my code skills.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All the projects have some new things to learn, I love all the customers.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
During TCO16, I visited the white house 3 times with 3 different groups.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Finalist in TCO17 prototype track.

Best music album to code to?
No Preference.

What books do you recommend?
No Preference.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
All copilots are very nice people.

Do you have a favorite designer/developer or other inspiration?
All the people I get chance to work with in Topcoder are inspiring.

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
HTML5, Angular 2, Sass.

Interview with vasilica.olariu

Has Topcoder changed your life? If so, how?
Not yet (maybe TCO will make a difference?).

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
That would be heavywater, where I had the opportunity to learn angular2.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Winning a short F2F after 15 minutes of being posted, appears to entertain me a bit.

Best music album to code to?
I have no specific album I’m listening to, just random youtube suggestions.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I’ve had a pretty good collaboration with callmekatootie.

What is your favorite developer language or front end technology and why?
RxJS, I’m still making my way in mastering it, but I like the concepts it adds to programming.

Interview with f0rc0d3r

How has Topcoder changed your life?
I’ve realized that there’s a chance to participate in a lot of interesting projects from the very couch of your home… with a large supply of pizzas… when you feel comfortable you work better :)

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All of the customers offer new chances to think and learn in different ways so I enjoy to work with any of them. The ones I enjoy the most are the ones who ask for difficult things so you have to put an extra of creativity.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Meeting people at TCO because we are from different places, different customs… so you never know what’s the “convention” to introduce yourself to someone… so it happened to me that I was going to give the usual Spanish couple of kisses and the other person gave me a hug, then to the next person I decided to give the hand but that person stood at me looking at my hand without knowing what to do… it’s difficult… xD

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
To be a third consecutive time TCO winner… I always think that I’m not going to reach the top again… the competition is too hard and competitors are really good.

Best music album to design to?
To pick just one is really difficult… for now I will pick the ones I use to enjoy anytime in the style of metal, so I can say that I will always have a good time listening the Nexus Polaris from Kovenant, the Passage from Samael, the Sundown from Cemetary or any album from Amorphis (with any of the singers)… then any of Blind Guardian, Metallica… I can continue with other kind of music such as blues, rock, pop, disco…

What books do you recommend?
All of the Asimov books of course! Even when some of them are a bit obsolete. I also never stop enjoying Terry Pratchett’s books, the big and epic Discworld collection.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I like how maroosh or systic work, I think that they take care of the contests they work with… and it’s always a pleasure to have adroc itself guiding a contest.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
I love the work of Rodney Matthews, I would love to create such things, that’s my top without any doubt because to me it represents the combination of engineering with art. I also like painters like Kandinsky and Yves Tanguy… then I love those painters which paints mainly landscapes or marines.

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
A slow computer or a program that fails.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Axure, Photoshop, MSPaint xD

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
I would like to redesign NASA logo, I think that this has a very old style and needs to get updated to nowadays. At a glance I feel this like outdated and I don’t know why a red line is striking out the name…

Interview with fajar.mln

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Working from home, great income ‘almost’ every month compares to any working profession in my country, able to communicate and meet the most talented designers and developers from around the world, free to upgrade skills, able to work with fantastic PMs, all those thing changing my mindset on how to live a life.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
IBM, GE, and HP. I’ve been doing a lot of projects with them, and everything about their projects always exciting!

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
TCO13, I brought a full bag of merchandise from a sponsor for free when going back to home, and then customs in my country thinking that I’m a toy smuggler.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
When I got 2nd place in WordPress themes contest at UI Prototype back on 2008. That was my first time to receive a cash prize from Topcoder.

Best music album to design to?
Parachutes by Cold Play

What books do you recommend?
The inheritance cycle by Christoper Paolini and The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. Both are fiction novels.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Maybe lunarkid…because he is soo frickin’ handsome (Don’t forget about your promise to treat me to free lunch for 1 month Dedy)

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Chuck Norris, because he is a legend…Hugh Hefner, well, any man should know why :3

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Cat, I have 7 cats back at home. Multiply it by 3 if you also count stray cats around my neighborhood.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Photoshop, Winamp and Google Translate

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Topcoder logo, I miss the bracket version…Sorry to say, even though the new logo is great, I already falling in love with the old Topcoder logo, I don’t want to move on, it feels hurt :v

Interview with KShiv

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder is a fun way to learn new domains and programming languages.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
From the few I have entered, IBM Blockchain and HyperLedger.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Remember I am the newbie? Ask me after TCO17 :)

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Getting into TCO17

Best music album to code to?
Classical, pop and rock but not while coding!

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
No favorites.

How did you get into programming?
I liked the logical and mathematical aspects of problem solving.

Which IDE do you use and why?
No IDE - just Notepad++

What books do you recommend?
- Speech and Language Processing by Dan Jurafsky and James H Martin
- Bioinformatics Algorithms Vol I and II by Phillip Compeau and Pavel Pevzner
- Mining of Massive Datasets by Jure Leskovec, Anand Rajaraman, Jeff Ullman
- Any detective crime fiction

Tabs or spaces?
Tabs and spaces :)

Interview with mahestro

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Oh man… I don’t like to sound over dramatic when it comes to this topic, but it is very important to me. Thanks for Topcoder I had the chance to be free, financial and location wise. I also had the chance to fly away from home, to get to know extraordinary people, to improve my language skills, to improve my design skills, my professional skills, my management skills and it still goes on and on. Topcoder is, basically, a land of opportunities that any software or design related geek should step in.

Since I ever touched land in Topcoder, when I was an irregular competitor (time-wise) until I moved to full-time, Topcoder has been the reason why I can keep my current lifestyle.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I’ve always felt proud of any project that is successfully completed. Although there’s one in progress that could be in the spotlight for me recently: Mjolnir, this project has challenged my design, development, testing and management skills at another level. It’s so big and complex that has had all copilots involved sticked in careful tasks to guarantee all little details are implemented correctly. I’d dare to say it’s one of the most complete and best-featured application Topcoder has ever developed.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
One of the memories I cherish the most is one day time during TCO16 I went out with two members who had the brilliant idea of letting me guide them from the venue back to the hotel. We were heading there, somehow the hotel moved somewhere else, it was not where it was supposed to be! It seems like we were lost, but no, someone moved the hotel! Anyways, we froze to death walking in circles. It was fun how happy we were at the moment, laughing of the stupid incident. It became an unforgettable moment for me.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Being able to compete onsite three TCOs in a row :)

Best music album to design to?
Exile On Main Street - The Rolling Stones

What books do you recommend?
A Little History of the World, Portrait of Dorian Gray

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Maroosh. She is an out of this world extremely organized human being, able to manage multiple projects efficiently.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
I used to get inspired by music… Weird, but certain sound waves and melodies make my mind focus on some problem resolutions (for work, life, anything overall).

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
To just skin a wireframe

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
I would definitely change McDonald’s distinctive M logo with a poison/skeleton sign. I feel I want to do something good for the world once in a while :D

Interview with nofto

How has Topcoder changed your life?
In Slovakia, the salary for a university researcher/teacher is quite low. Thank to earnings from Topcoder, I am now debt free, I could buy a new car and spend a nice holiday with my family.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
No.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Winning my first sponsored marathon match.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Earning the red rating in marathon competitions for a while.

Best music album to code to?
No music when coding.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
wleite

He is very polite, responds very quickly and competently, and helps even when he is not a copilot in a match.

How did you get into programming?
At high school, it was a mandatory subject. I liked it very match so I stayed with it at the university.

Which IDE do you use and why?
Dev-C++

It was the only one I was able to set up to use with simple c++ file (without any project structure).

What books do you recommend?
Ender’s game and other Ender saga books by Orson Scott Card

Tabs or spaces?
I don’t care. Whichever is used by default in the IDE.

Interview with pandorabox

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder have definitely changed my life for better. It has given a great platform for each and everyone who provides dedicated work. As a New Mom, it has always been challenging to maintain a balance between spending time with the kiddo & work life. This was made easier through this platform. Thanks a ton to Topcoder for this.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
There are a lot of Projects. Each with different perspectives. I always try to take a liking towards the project I work on to make my working experience light and pleasant.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Each & every single win is an achievement to be proud of in such a competitive platform.

Best music album to design to?
Actually I prefer silence while working.

What books do you recommend?
All Agatha Christie’s for the detective in her.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Fajar & Lunarkid. They are responsive & take concern in resolving issues.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
Selvia, Picachui, f0rc0d3r

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
Slow Internet

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
Axure, photoshop, Excel

If you could design one world - renown item such as the Olympics logo, a new country flag, or redo a massive brand logo such as Coca Cola, what would you want to design and why?
Gmail. I will include all my favorite features.

Interview with paolog

How has Topcoder changed your life?
For sure TC changed my life; before joining the platform I wasted my nights just sleeping …

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I don’t have a favorite project. However I loved the OPM project, even though I didn’t win anything. I was a rookie on TC and I learned a lot from senior members.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
During one of my first contest, after a night of work and ready to submit, I noticed that my TCUML was corrupted. I wrote on the forum to say that I would quit the challenge, but my opponent told me that TCUML tool makes backup (I didn’t know yet) and it saved my life. I appreciated very much his fairplay and that time I understood the real spirit of this great community.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
No doubt that my most important achievement is being selected for this TCO !

Best music album to code to?
Made in Japan by Deep Purple

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I have more than one: wendell, taleforce and callmekatootie.

How did you get into programming?
I started programming late at university, I was 18 and my first application was developed with Fortran 77

Which IDE do you use and why?
I use Eclipse and Spring Tool Suite because they cover all my needs.

What books do you recommend?
I loved “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software” that I consider a real “bible” for architects and developers.

Tabs or spaces?
Definitely tabs !

Interview with picachui

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder has been an important part of my life for the past few years. I will always be grateful to Topcoder as it made it possible for me to be with my kids in their early years while working from home. It has taught me all the things that you need to win, either in a contest or in life, hard work, discipline and talent.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
All studio projects are really cool. The STEM projects were a lot of fun to work with.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
Winning the wireframe trip for 6 years straight :)

Best music album to design to?
I am so sorry, I need silence. I even switch off the fan and close the windows and when I really need to concentrate.

What books do you recommend?
My love for books started at a very early age. At different times in my life I have been attracted to different types of books. Books I loved to read in my teen years hold no interest for me now. But books are always there for me whenever I need anything. They can be a source of knowledge, an escape from the everyday routine, a tourist guide taking you to faraway places, an inspiration when you are down, in short they can be anything you want or need. So I cant just recommend some books, whatever it may be you need, there is a book out there.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
Marwa, I love how professional and friendly she is at the same time.

Do you have a favorite designer/artist or other inspiration?
I always had a very high regard for iamtong .

As a designer, what is your biggest pet peeve?
I can’t think of anything like that.

What are the top 3 applications that you use when you design?
I am a wireframer, So its mostly Axure RP. I sometimes use excel to create charts. But mostly it is just Axure.

Interview with talesforce

How has Topcoder changed your life?
Topcoder has changed my life for good in several ways - it keeps me always in the learning mode, has instilled self-discipline and effective time management capabilities. It has given me exposure to large enterprise clients and cutting-edge technologies which has further helped refine my skills

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
I feel proud to have contributed to many customer and project success stories on Topcoder. But If were to pick a few, I’d pick

1. XPrize (https://www.xprize.org/) - they’re doing some disruptive work in solving the world’s greatest challenges and we built a really sleek Android app for them. I’m now helping them with another project.

2. HPE - They bring in the enterprise application development to the crowd and I’ve really enjoyed working with them helping build some kick-ass applications

There are several others and I could go on about my project love stories on Topcoder forever and ever!

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
I attend a a lot of startup events and technology conferences. Last year, I was at a huge startup event with nearly 1000 attendees as an audience where one of Topcoder members was helping as a volunteer organiser. He noticed me sitting in the crowd, told the organisers about me being there and they called me spontaneously on the stage to do a 10 minute talk on my Topcoder story. I was completely unprepared but I think it went well - as there were plenty of smiles and laughs all around. A bit scary but funny for sure!

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I’ve been to 3 TCO finals till date but TCO17 is my first trip as a co-pilot winner. I worked very hard for Stage 4 of TCO17 and I’m proud to have made it to have made it as a Stage winner!

Best music album to code to?
I love old melodies and soft music - I’ve my headphones on for most of the time I’m working regardless of whether it’s 7 AM in the morning or late in the night. It helps me cut out any distractions and puts me ‘in the zone’.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
I’m a copilot myself so I’d be tempted to pick myself. But I’d pick jmgasper and elkhawajah - I’ve learned a lot from them over the years and they set the benchmark for all other copilots in the community. When it comes to design, I’d pick mahestro - we’ve teamed up and delivered several successful projects together and I hope to continue working with him in future as well - his sense of aesthetics, design and user experience is amazing!

How did you get into programming?
I was genuinely interested in programming since my childhood. I sold off my bicycle, my video game and several other things so I could buy a used computer. I started off programming in Logo, then moved to Pascal, Fortran and eventually to C before I had even moved to college. Thereafter, the passion for programming grew stronger with every passing year. And even when I’m 40 years old, I proudly say ‘I’m a programmer first’.

Which IDE do you use and why?
I used to do almost all my work on Sublime Text but since last year I’ve moved to Webstorm as it’s a very powerful tool with good support for third-party plugins.

What books do you recommend?
I’m a bookworm and I can’t go to bed until I read for an hour every day. Here are some of my all time favorite books

Steve Jobs - Isaac Walterson
The Circle of Reason - Amitav Ghosh
The Last Mughal - William Dalrymple
Wings of Fire - Dr. APJ Abul Kalam
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

I could go on and on! Lock me up in a room with my favorite books and I’d never want to come out again!

Tabs or spaces?
Spaces. I strongly believe they invented tabs for the lazy ones who can’t type in 4 spaces.

Interview with Wendell

How has Topcoder changed your life?
It has freed my life, I now have full control of my time and I can work anywhere. I really love it and it’s why after 10+ years since I joined I’m still an active member on Topcoder.

Do you have a favorite Topcoder customer or project? If so, which customer or project?
Had some good times with EMC and IBM.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you within the Topcoder community?
Most people think this way of working is lonely and keeps you separated from society, but it’s quite the opposite, I’ve got many friends through the community from all over the world, sometimes it amazing how things work out.

Tell us about an achievement that you are most proud of.
I always feel good when a project is delivered, I’m really proud that one of the projects (the biggest one I worked on) is now serving billions of requests per year.

Best music album to code to?
No preference.

Who is your favorite copilot and why (and you can’t pick yourself!)?
mahestro, he always makes it easier for the development copilots to continue on development after the studio part is done.

How did you get into programming?
I learned it in college and have been coding since then.

Which IDE do you use and why?
I use many different IDEs since I work on many different types of projects. To name a few: Intellij IDEA, Intellij Web Storm, Xcode, Android Studio, Visual Studio.

What books do you recommend?
“The 4-Hour Workweek” - I read it recently and it turned out to be a very interesting book.

Tabs or spaces?
Spaces.