Forget the NCAA basketball and World Junior hockey tournaments. Buffalo is hosting the best in the world in another competition this fall, and it has nothing to do with athletics.
The Topcoder Open Finals 2017 will take place at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC) Oct. 21-24, bringing together 110 of the world’s top computer science experts and coding wizzes to compete in challenges like UI design, algorithm, and development.
“It's the Olympics of coding,” said Sean Heidinger, BNMC Curator of Events and manager of dig Buffalo co-working space at the Innovation Center on the Medical Campus.
Tech experts from 30 different countries will travel to Buffalo for the Topcoder Open Finals. Coding experts are ranked in a way that’s similar to chess, BNMC Chief Innovation Officer Sam Marrazzo said, and the ones competing in this event are the best in the world.
Buffalo, with the support of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and SUNY Buffalo, earned the bid over cities like Austin, Boston, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
“When they asked why Buffalo, we said, ‘Why not Buffalo?’” Marrazzo said.
Eight cities around the world held qualifiers for the event, and Heidinger was able to travel to China to assess the infrastructure capabilities necessary to host the Topcoder finals smoothly. Many of the competitors are from China, India, and the U.S., but for the first time, there will be a Topcoder competitor from Ghana.
Winners, Heidinger said, can expect to walk off the floor of the competition and into a job offer from companies like Google and Facebook.
Topcoder is a workforce marketplace with 1.1 million developers, designers, and data scientists around the world. Its flagship event is the Topcoder Open Finals.
The four days of competition will be mixed with events at the Medical Campus, including an opening ceremony, visits by coders to an area high school, an innovation summit, and a video challenge, where area students send 60 second videos about how the tech sector will affect the future of Buffalo, with the finalists and winner announced during the competition. And in typical Buffalo fashion, competitors can participate in a wing-eating contest, as well.
The competition is not open to the public, but Erie and Niagara County residents interested in attending can participate Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 6 p.m. in an algorithm competition at BNMC.
The top 10 finishers will win all-access, VIP passes to the Topcoder Open Finals, and the top three finishers receive Amazon gift cards. Details for the event can be found here. https://tco17.topcoder.com/bnmc-algorithm-competition-powered-topcoder/
Marrazzo said the Topcoder Open Finals gives Buffalo instant credibility with major companies, and offers an opportunity to converge the tech industry with local companies in Western New York.
“We want educators, students, and entrepreneurs to know about the great opportunities for them that are here in Buffalo,” Marrazzo added.