Utilising Coding Skills While In School: Know About Olympiads, Hackathons, And More

Technology, today, rules so many parts of our lives that it is difficult to imagine life without it. Coding skills are a huge aspect and the bottommost rung in the ladder, without which the ladder would not exist. Let me use a fun example to pique your curiosity towards this amazing skill. For all those who follow Formula 1, do you notice all the brands mentioned on a driver’s suit and the livery on the car? Most of them are technology companies making products or solutions that the world uses. Coding is a part of our lives in so many ways that we often don’t even realise its contribution. Let us explore what are the benefits of coding for students in school and what are the different realms that coding skills can be used in.

Also Read | How Important It Is For Your Child To Learn Coding

Competitive Coding And Olympiads

Deliberate practice begins with the tools of the trade and a source of practice material. Musicians need instruments and sheet music. Programmers need a computer and a description of what to build. The world of competitive programming is a convenient source of practice material and sharpens one’s problem solving skills. In the longer run, it also gives you an edge for job interviews. The word ‘competitive’ lends it a sport-like quality. All of this can be something you can have on your resume for a lifetime, while also having the opportunity to become part of a vast community spread across the world and network with individuals who like doing the same thing.

• A good way to apply and evaluate your understanding of coding and enhance your coding skills could be to participate in the International Olympiad in Informatics.
• You may check out the contests Codechef holds for school students.
• There is also a training roadmap published by Mostafa.S.Ibrahim, which can be used as a starting ground for competitive programming.
• You may also visit Project Euler’s website for problems which use maths and can be solved with coding and enhance your coding skills.
• A lot of colleges in India also organise coding competitions for school students, check out the ones conducted by BITS Pilani, BIT Mesra, HPE Codewars Code battle.
• Codingal’s website lists a series of competitions organised from time to time.

High School Programs Or Scholarships

Benefits of coding for students? For students aiming to apply to colleges in the USA or Canada, Google has a “Build Your Future With Google” programme, while Microsoft has a “high school programme” for students residing in Redmond, Washington. While foreign countries do offer scholarships for school students, the ones in India are available to students in college pursuing a computer science degree. You can still keep an eye out for these things as the rules are always dynamic and new opportunities keep coming up, especially for minorities or students from weaker economic backgrounds. So, do not ignore the coding skills you acquired and keep checking for programs/scholarships available in your region where you can apply those skills.

Also Read | A Beginners Guide To Clean Code

Portfolio Creation

Another benefit of coding for students is that coding can help you create a portfolio while you are still in school.

• You may create a website where you can simply archive what you do in your life, for instance, you can have a website archiving the list of all anime you have watched. You can also build a website for documenting books you have read or literary pieces you have written.
• Another idea for students is to develop apps, which can also help you earn some money if others download or use some paid, pro features of it. So, having coding skills can aid your other skills by helping you boost them on a broader platform.
• You may also create an Instagram page where you can be explaining concepts from a programming language or documenting how you have executed a certain coding project using your coding skills. Another idea can be to create a Youtube channel explaining similar things.

These ideas could lend serious depth and weight to something that would otherwise have been a summer project or a hobby.

Coding Can Help You Create A Portfolio While You Are Still In School

Participating In Hackathons

To participate in hackathons could be a great experience for those who have coding skills.

• Participate in hackathons and get an opportunity to build something for the community and solve practical, real-world problems within a specific time range. You can learn about concepts like API integration, database integration, etc and enhance your coding skills while learning to debug problems fast and present a minimal viable product (MVP), something which even experienced folks find hard to grasp as we always tend to go overboard with the requirement from an application without a time limit.
• If you participate in hackathons, it will also serve as opportunities for you to meet people from diverse fields and leverage that network at a later point in life.
• The credentials earned from hackathons where you use your coding skills can help tremendously in college applications, while also being able to get some mentorship owing to the networking opportunity at such events. There are multiple hackathons for school students , like the School's Out Hackathon, Smart India Hackathon, HT Code-a-thon, CEL Kids Hackathon, IIT Roorkee Young Coders Hackathon, HPE Codewars Hackathon, etc.

The hackathons usually have themes and you could work around any of the themes that interests you. They increase your awareness around more real-world problems and also help you know of unique ways of solving them.

Foray Into Robotics

The foundation built via coding skills can help you program robots and get into an exciting and upcoming field. Knowing coding can help you foray into robotics and build something tangible. A robot is an autonomous machine that is able to perform certain tasks based on the inputs taken by sensors. Also, a robot is merely a mechanical piece until programmed. Robotics combines the use of electronics, mechanics, and coding software to program robots to do particular jobs. VEXcode has a VR program where students can program virtual robots to achieve certain tasks and enhance their coding skills.

Having coding skills may lead you to a variety of opportunities which could be beyond national boundaries. While it does enhance one’s higher-order thinking skills, utilising your coding skills well also adds exponentially to your resume and profile.

Deboshree holds a BTech in Computer Science and Engineering from BIT Mesra. Backed with 6 years of experience working with Goldman Sachs and Walmart, she currently works with Cred as backend engineer.