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'''Topcoder''' (formerly TopCoder) is a [[crowdsourcing]] company with an [[Commons-based peer production|open global community]] of designers, [[Software development|developers]], [[Data science|data scientists]], and [[Competitive programming|competitive programmers]]. Topcoder pays community members for their work on the projects and sells community services to corporate, mid-size, and small-business clients.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=|first=|vauthors=Lakhani KR, Garvin DA, Lonstein E|date=January 2010|title=TopCoder (A): Developing Software through Crowdsourcing|url=https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=38356|journal=Harvard Business School Case|volume=|pages=610-032|via=}}</ref><ref name="HuffPost-foudning">{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-diamandis/topcoders-5-steps-to-buil_b_2916499.html|title=TopCoder’s 5 Steps to Building a Global Workforce Community|last1=DIamandis|first1=Peter|date=March 20, 2013|website=The Huffington Post|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|accessdate=15 April 2016
==History==
Topcoder was founded in 2001 by Jack Hughes, Chairman and Founder of the Tallan company.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="HuffPost-foudning
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. Most of the revenue, though, still came from consulting services provided to clients by Topcoder employees.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sramanamitra.com/2018/01/02/genesis-to-acquisition-mike-morris-ceo-of-topcoder-part-1/|title=Genesis to Acquisition: Mike Morris, CEO of Topcoder|last=Mitra|first=Sramana|date=January 2, 2018|website=One Million by One Million Blog|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=March 30, 2018}}</ref> From 2006 onwards, Topcoder held design competitions, thus offering design services to their clients.<ref name=":0" /> In 2006 Topcoder also started to organize Marathon Matches (MM) – one week long algorithmic contests.<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>
In an attempt to optimize expenses, Topcoder introduced new competition tracks in 2007-2008 and delegated more work from its employees to the community. By 2009, the size of Topcoder's staff had been reduced to 16 project managers servicing 35 clients, while the community did most of the actual work via crowdsourcing. Topcoder representatives claim that at this point their community had about 170k registered members, and the company's annual revenue was approximately $19 million.<ref name=":0
In 2013, Topcoder was acquired by [[Appirio]], and the Topcoder community (of around 500 thousand at the time), was merged, under the Topcoder brand, with the 75k member crowdsourcing community Cloudspokes, created and managed by Appirio.
In 2016, Topcoder, along with Appirio, was acquired by [[Wipro]] as a part of a $500 million deal and continued to operate as a separate company under its brand.
Since the end of 2017, Topcoder has continued to offer its enterprise clients the Hybrid Crowd platform, as a way to protect intellectual property in crowdsourcing projects. In addition to the public Topcoder community, the Hybrid Crowd platform allows for the creation of certified and private crowdsourcing communities. Its certified communities include members of public Topcoder communities who are vetted for a customer's specific requirements, such as signing an additional [[Non-disclosure agreement|NDA]], completing a background check, or meeting any other particular certifications. The private communities may include an enterprise's employees and contractors. As the first user of Hybrid Crowd, Wipro integrated its internal (employee-only) crowdsourcing platform TopGear with Topcoder.
== Topcoder community ==
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|-
|2016
|~1 000 000<ref name=":6">{{Cite news|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/1-million-members-strong/|title=Topcoder Community: 1 Million Members Strong|last=|first=|date=May 8, 2016|work=Topcoder Blog|access-date=April 4, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
|-
|2018
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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-communities may require members to meet additional eligibility criteria before joining.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|url=https://www.wipro.com/newsroom/press-releases/2017/topcoder-launches-hybrid-crowd-to-deliver-new-levels-of-on-demand-talent-to-the-enterprise/|title=Topcoder Launches Hybrid Crowd to Deliver New Levels of On-Demand Talent to the Enterprise|last=|first=|date=December 12, 2017|work=Wipro Newsroom|access-date=April 14, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
=== Design ===
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There are several types of data science challenges at Topcoder; typically, they are longer than software development challenges and focused on data science and algorithms, rather than on end-user software products:<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=https://help.topcoder.com/hc/en-us/articles/230881408-Data-Science-Challenge-Types|title=Data Science Challenge Types|last=|first=|date=March 3, 2017|website=Topcoder Help Center|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 10, 2018}}</ref>
* '''Marathon Match''' '''(MM)'''<ref name=":8" /> – A week-long algorithmic contest, in which submissions are judged objectively by an automated scoring function that feeds a live leaderboard, and multiple submission from the same competitor is encouraged during the match with no penalty. Programming languages allowed in MMs are [[C++]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#.NET]], [[Visual Basic .NET|VB.NET]]. Topcoder has organized Marathon Matches since 2006,<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":0" group="note" /> and 100th MM was held in April 2018.<ref name=":19">{{Cite news|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/marathon-match-100-prizes-t-shirts/|title=Marathon Match 100 with Prizes & T-Shirts|last=|first=|date=April 11, 2018|work=Topcoder Blog|access-date=|archive-url=|archive-date=April 12, 2018|dead-url=}}</ref><ref name=":23">{{Cite news|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/marathon-match-100-winners/|title=Marathon Match 100: Winners and More!|last=|first=|date=May 4, 2018|work=Topcoder Blog|access-date=May 8, 2018}}</ref> There are few similar types of challenges ('''Banner Match''', '''Mini-Marathon Match'''), different by length and allowed programming languages.
* '''Data Science First to Finish''' – Algorithmic contests scored by an automated scoring function, where the first competitor that reaches the specified score thresholds wins.
* '''Data Science Sprint''' – A series of rapid data-science challenges, scored by a manual scoring function, and with no leaderboard.
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!Focus
|-
|Blockchain Community<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=http://blockchain.topcoder.com/|title=Topcoder Blockchain Community|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=April 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name=":11" /><ref name=":12" />
|[[ConsenSys]]
|public
|[[Blockchain]] technology projects, with focus on [[Ethereum]] platform
|-
|Cognitive Community<ref name=":13">{{Cite web|url=http://cognitive.topcoder.com/|title=Topcoder Cognitive Community|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite news|url=https://www.topcoder.com/blog/topcoder-and-ibm-partner-to-bring-watson-to-the-topcoder-community/|title=Topcoder and IBM Partner to Bring Watson to the Topcoder Community|last=|first=|date=November 10, 2016|work=Topcoder Blog|access-date=April 8, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
|[[IBM]]
|public
|[[Cognitive computing]], with a particular focus on [[Watson (computer)|IBM Watson]] services.
|-
|Veterans Community<ref name=":15">{{Cite web|url=http://veterans.topcoder.com/|title=Topcoder Veterans Community|last=|first=|date=|website=|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=}}</ref><ref name=":16">{{Cite news|url=https://www.wipro.com/newsroom/press-releases/2017/topcoder-launches-crowdsourcing-community-to-help-us-military-veterans-transition-to-technology-jobs/|title=Topcoder Launches Crowdsourcing Community to Help U.S. Military Veterans Transition to Technology Jobs|last=|first=|date=December 14, 2017|work=Wipro Press Release|access-date=April 8, 2017|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref name=":17" />
|Operation Code
|Only for US military veterans
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=== ConsenSys ===
In 2017, Topcoder entered into a partnership with [[ConsenSys]], an incubator of [[Ethereum]] projects, to promote the Topcoder Blockchain Community, and provide ConsenSys with design and development support for their [[blockchain]] projects.
=== Eli Lilly and Company ===
It was reported in 2008 that [[Eli Lilly and Company|Eli Lilly and Co.]] would use Topcoder platform to crowdsource development of IT applications for its global drug discovery operations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2535921/app-development/eli-lilly-aims-to-tap--rock-star--programmers.html|title=Eli Lilly aims to tap "rock star" programmers|last=Havenstein|first=Heather|date=May 18, 2008|work=Computerworld|access-date=April 30, 2018}}</ref>
=== Harvard Medical School ===
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=== IBM ===
Since 2016 [[IBM]] has been collaborating with Topcoder to promote their cloud platform, [[IBM cloud computing|IBM Cloud]], and [[Watson (computer)|IBM Watson]] services, in particular.
=== NASA ===
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In 2014, Asteroid Data Hunter, Asteroid Tracker, and many other challenges were carried on to develop better algorithms for asteroids detection in space images.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nasa.gov/content/asteroid-data-hunter-challenge-0|title=Asteroid Data Hunter Challenge|last=|first=|date=March 17, 2014|work=NASA|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://sservi.nasa.gov/articles/asteroid-data-hunter-app/|title=Asteroid Data Hunter App|last=|first=|date=|work=Solar System Exploration Research. Virtual Institute.|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.space.com/25029-nasa-dangerous-asteroid-contest-prizes.html|title=NASA Offers Cash Prizes for Help Hunting Dangerous Asteroids|last=Wall|first=Mike|date=March 11, 2014|work=Space.com|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|last2=|first2=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/10/nasa-asteroids-data-hunter-dinosaurs-sxsw|title=Nasa Asteroid Data Hunter contest hopes humans will outsmart dinosaurs|last=Dredge|first=Stuart|date=|work=The Guardian|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fedscoop.com/nasa-topcoder-challenge/|title=NASA taps massive coding community for deep space solutions|last=Otto|first=Greg|date=August 12, 2014|work=FedScoop|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mgb7nq/with-help-from-topcoder-nasa-is-contestsourcing-its-deepest-problems|title=NASA Is Contest-Sourcing Solutions to Its Deepest Problems|last=Teitel|first=Amy Shira|date=August 10, 2014|work=Motherboard|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.aticourses.com/blog/index.php/2014/10/16/name-nasanew-free-flying-robot-and-win-1000/|title=Name NASA New Free-Flying Robot and Win $1,000!|last=|first=|date=October 16, 2014|work=Applied Technology Institute|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3034090/nasa-plans-to-deploy-these-crowdsourced-projects-in-space|title=NASA Plans To Deploy These Crowdsourcing Projects In Space|last=|first=|date=July 8, 2014|work=Fast Company. Fast Feed.|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref>
In 2015, the Topcoder Data Science community was challenged by NASA, [[QuakeFinder|Quakefinder]], [[Harvard innovation lab|Harvard Crowd Innovation Lab]], and [[Amazon Web Services]], to come up with an algorithm that finds correlations between ultra-low frequency electromagnetic signals emanating from the earth, and subsequent moderate and large earthquakes.
In 2017, NASA, HeroX, and Topcoder announced a challenge to optimize their computational-intensive software solution for fluid dynamics, FUN3D,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.i-programmer.info/news/204-challenges/10746-nasa-high-performance-fast-computing-challenge.html|title=NASA High Performance Fast Computing Challenge|last=Gee|first=Sue|date=May 8, 2017|work=I Programmer|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.universetoday.com/135414/faster-supercomputer-nasa-announces-high-performance-fast-computing-challenge/|title=Faster Supercomputer! NASA Announces The High Performance Fast Computing Challenge|last=Williams|first=Matt|date=May 5, 2017|work=Universe Today. Space and Astronomy News|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.space.com/36755-nasa-supercomputer-software-coding-contest.html|title=NASA Wants Your Code! Boost Supercomputer Software Speed and Win $55,000|last=O'Neill|first=Ian|date=May 8, 2017|work=Space.com|access-date=April 6, 2018|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nasa.gov/aero/nasa-issues-a-challenge-to-speed-up-its-supercomputer-code|title=NASA Issues a Challenge to Speed Up Its Supercomputer Code|last=|first=|date=October 1, 2014|work=NASA|access-date=April 6, 2014
In 2018, a data science challenge is running currently to develop better algorithms for tracking of [[Radio-frequency identification|RFID]]-tagged items within the [[International Space Station]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-international-space-station-rfid-localization-challenge|title=NASA International Space Station RFID Localization Challenge|last=|first=|date=September 27, 2018|website=NASA|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=September 29, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://solutions.topcoder.com/nasa-iss-rfid-localization|title=NASA International Space Station RFID Localization Challenge|last=|first=|date=|website=Topcoder|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=September 28, 2018}}</ref>
=== Topcoder Veterans Community ===
At the end of 2017 Topcoder, together with Operation Code [[Nonprofit organization|non-profit charity]], announced the launch of Topcoder Veterans Community, that will focus on helping US military veterans to make their way into tech careers in software development via education programs and paid crowdsourcing challenges.
== See also ==<!-- PLEASE RESPECT ALPHABETICAL ORDER -->
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