Technology Days: From Bishkek to Barnaul

October 28, 2014

During the weekend of October 25^th-26^th, the American University of Central Asia and Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University played host to the local quarterfinals of the 39^th annual ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) as well as the first conference of “Kyrgyz Technology Days”. It was the first time the competition was held in-person rather than online.

Founded in 1970 in the United States, the ICPC has progressed from its modest beginnings as a local contest to an international, multi-tiered, and prestigious event. Sponsored by IBM (International Business Machines Corporation) and with its headquarters located in Texas at Baylor University; the contest is truly a globally respected event with World Finals having been hosted in countries including Sweden, Russia, China, and the U.S.

When imagining an intense and high-stakes sport, a computer-programming contest may not top the list. However while to the layperson it may not be thrilling spectator event (although balloons were given to symbolize each problem solved during the competition), to those involved it could not be more important. Ranking high in such contests brings international renown to an individual, team, and university. Recruiters like Google, IBM, Microsoft and other international technological companies pay close attention to the results, and lives are changed as a result of these competitions. Those results are decided only after several rounds of contests in which the 3-person teams must solve a set of problems.  This weekend’s contest was at the local level, with regional contests taking place in Barnaul, Russia, and the world finals taking place in Marrakesh, Morocco: hosted by Mohammed the Fifth University, Al Akhawayn University, and Mundiapolis University.

            The first day of the event, Saturday, was a day of workshops and seminars held at AUCA: dubbed “Kyrgyz Technological Days” and led by speakers from several regional and international technology and IT (information technology) companies. Topics ranged from “How not to lose your business: Migrating to a new platform” by local digital marketing company NambaMedia, to “Programming as a Profession: Something that is not taught at university,” given by a representative of NeoService, a Ukrainian-based distributer. Other companies represented included IT Attractor and TimelySoft, as well as a representative from Beeline during a roundtable on promoting professional groups in IT. Overall the conferences were aimed at promoting software development and IT in Kyrgyzstan, and most importantly to give local students an opportunity to advance their careers. They were able to network, and become aware of the opportunities available to them in their field. As the day came to a close, the teams prepared to begin the competition the next day.

            The contest took place at the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University and included participants from 15 universities and even included participants from high schools. Students came from Bishkek universities like AUCA, Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, Manas, and the Kyrgyz National Technology University among others, as well as from schools in Osh, Talas, and Karakol. After the hours-long competition, the results were revealed in a closing awards ceremony. In 1^st place, and winning a tablet, was a team from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University. In 2^nd came a team from Kyrgyz National Technology University. 3^rd place belonged to a team from AUCA. We talked to software engineering student Alexander Kim, a member of the AUCA team that also included students Amatov Batyi Esenovich and Kairat Talantbekov, which placed in 3^rd and earned a spot for their team in Barnaul for the semi-finals.

            When asked how he felt about placing in the competition, he told us that, “It was very surprising actually. Coming in we thought we would only solve the easy problems, as we thought ‘well, there should be 2 or 3 easy ones’. We started, finished the 1^st problem and thought, ‘wow we can actually do this’.” When asked about why he wanted to study software engineering, his answer was both surprising and telling of the drive of AUCA students, “To be honest, programming was not really the major thing for me. Last year I was on a FLEX program in Oregon, and became interested in Robotics…I don’t really have a lot of programming experience, nothing like Elon Musk!” He gave a thanks to all involved in organizing the event, and a special thanks to his mentor and advisor for his team, Dmitri Shostak, a faculty member of the Software Engineering department. Exposing students to the wider world of technology is exactly why this event was so important; with students like Alexander hoping to further his studies of Robotics in an exchange or Master’s program, Kyrgyzstan’s own development in the field will only grow.

Whatever the final result will be, AUCA has been proud to be part of the development of the technology sector of Kyrgyzstan. Involving students in the evolution of a critical part of the future economy and society is not only important, but essential. Congratulations to all who took part in the event, and we the best of luck to our AUCA team who will be competing in the semi-finals hosted in Russia!

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