Topcoder: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:20, 5 June 2018

Revision as of 22:25, 5 June 2018

Line 29:

==History==

Topcoder was founded in 2001 by Jack Hughes, Chairman and Founder of the Tallan company.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="HuffPost-foudning" /><ref name=":1" /> The name was spelled as TopcoderTopCoder prior to 2013. Originally, Topcoder ran regular competitive programming challenges, known as Single Round Matches or "SRMs." Each SRM was a timed, 1.5 hours algorithm competitions, in which contestants competed against each other to solve the same set of problems. The target audience was secondary and university or college students. High value cash prizes ranging from $5k - $10k per match were secured from corporate sponsors and awarded to tournament winners in order to generated interest from the student community.<ref name=":0" />

As the community of designers, developers, data scientists and competitive programmers involved in Topcoder grew, the company started to offer software development services to 3rd party clients, contracting individual community members to work on specific tasks; though most of the revenue still came from consulting services provided to clients by Topcoder employees.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> From 2006 on Topcoder also held design competitions, thus offering design services to the clients.<ref name=":0" /> In 2006 Topcoder also started to organize Marathon Matches (MM) – one week long algorithmic competitions.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/marathon-match-how-it-all-began/|title=Marathon Matches: How They All Began|last=|first=|date=April 10, 2018|website=Topcoder Blog|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 12, 2018}}</ref><ref group="note" name=":0">The first Marathon Match at Topcoder took place from May 10 to May 17, 2006: <nowiki>https://community.topcoder.com/tc?module=MatchDetails&rd=10015</nowiki></ref>

Line 93:

While the majority of community members participate in Topcoder challenges as regular competitors, those who become recognized for their performance, and involvement in community life (via communication in Topcoder forums, attending Topcoder events, etc.), are offered additional roles in the community, which include: copilots (technical coordinators of challenges), problem writers, reviewers, etc.<ref name=":3" /> Since the end of 2014 till the end of 2017 a Community Advisory Board (CAB) was selected from active community members for a one-year term to help improve communications between Topcoder company and its community.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/the-topcoder-community-advisory-board-is-finally-here/|title=The Topcoder Community Advisory Board is Finally Here!|last=|first=|date=October 31, 2014|work=Topcoder Blog|access-date=April 15, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://help.topcoder.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001040628-Topcoder-Community-Advisory-Board|title=Topcoder Community Advisory Board|last=|first=|date=February 9, 2018|website=Topcoder Help Center|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 15, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.topcoder.com/community/member-programs/topcoder-community-advisory-board/|title=2017 Community Advisory Board|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 15, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.topcoder.com/community/member-programs/cab-yearbook/|title=Community Advisory Board Yearbook|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 15, 2018}}</ref> In 2018 the CAB was replaced by the Topcoder MVP (Most Valuable Player) program.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/introducing-2018-topcoder-mvp-members/|title=Introducing the 2018 Topcoder MVP Members!|last=|first=|date=January 25, 2018|work=Topcoder Blog|access-date=April 15, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.topcoder.com/community/member-programs/mvp-program/|title=MVP Program|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 15, 2018}}</ref>

There are four primary segments of each Topcoder community, open to every member: Design, Development, Data Science, and Competitive Programming.<ref name=":3" /> Also, since the end of 2017, Topcoder, as a part of their Hybrid Crowd offering, creates sub-communities dedicated to specific clients / projects, The sub committeescommunities may require members to meet additional eligibility criteria prior to joining.<ref name=":9" />

=== Design ===