While ACM ICPC has always been the ultimate target for every graduate and post graduate student, what many people are not aware about is the Zonal Computing Olympiad #ZCO and the Zonal Olympiad in Informatics#ZIO for the school students.
These competitions are meant to shortlist students who undergo vigorous training under the guidance of experienced mentors. At the end of this training, 4 students are selected who get the golden opportunity to represent India at the International Olympiad in Informatics #IOI. The Leader and Deputy Leader of the Indian contingent for IOI 2014 were Prof K Narayan Kumar, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai, and Nadeem Moidu, Google, respectively. IOI 2014 took place in Taipei, Taiwan during July 13–20, 2014. Akshat Bubna (Amity International School, Saket, New Delhi) won India’s first ever gold medal at IOI, while Malvika Raj Joshi (Chashak Gurukul, Mumbai) won a silver medal. Pushkar Mishra (Delhi Public School, R K Puram, New Delhi) narrowly missed winning a bronze medal.
For more information regarding IOI visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/…/International_Olympiad_in_Informa…
Earlier CBSE assisted IARCS by sending circulars to all the CBSE affiliated schools informing them about the same. However, this year onwards CBSE has decided to no longer spread the word about this competition.
Let us bring you face to face to some disappointing statistics from the previous year.
About 100 students wrote ZCO-2014 and 7400 students wrote ZIO-2014. 322 students qualified for the Indian National Olympiad in Informatics 2014 (INOI-2014). Now out of these 322, 252 students who participated in INOI-2014, 26 students qualified for the training camp to select the Indian team for the IOI-2014.
For a programmer these statistics are definitely discouraging. A programmer is not born when (s)he enters graduation. Programmers make an early start. IITs are not the only way to bag the jobs in dream companies like Facebook and Google. People from the not so well known colleges have also made up to the top positions. Anudeeep Nekkanti who is currently working in Google, Zurich is one such perfect example. It’s not your degree that matters. Your skills speak for you.
We hereby request everyone to join hands in this noble cause and spread the word about IOI. Start by teaching your siblings and cousins. Gradually progress by reaching your schools as well. Lunchtime contests at CodeChef are there to train you well and offer questions that match the IOI standards.
Please note you can take both ZIO and ZCO and still proceed to the next round. The registration fees for both the competitions is INR 225. ZCO is scheduled to be held on 6/12/1014 while ZIO will take place on 29/11/2014.
Registration Link for ZIO:
http://www.iarcs.org.in/i…/2015/zio2015/zio2015-register.php
Last Date to register: 21/11/2014
Registration Link for ZCO:
http://www.iarcs.org.in/inoi/2015/zco2015/zco2015-register.php
Last Date to register: 1/12/2014
More details on INOI can be found here: http://www.iarcs.org.in/inoi/current.php
More details on IOI can be found here: http://www.codechef.com/ioi