February 14, 2022 State of the Community 2022

It has been a transformative year at Topcoder as we continue to navigate COVID-19 and its impacts on our lives, families, and careers. I am proud of the positive transformation within Topcoder over the past six months as it relates to our vision, our business, our leadership, and more.

The team has been working really hard with our new leaders to make Topcoder an incredible platform company with the most robust and talented community. The backbone of our everyday work has been to ask ourselves, “Is this good for our community?”. 

The foundation of our community, which includes members, the Topcoder team, and customers, has never been stronger and I’m really excited for what is to come.

Let’s look at 2021:

• We had a successful, albeit virtual, Topcoder Open (TCO21) and were incredibly captivated, as always, by the amazing Topcoder talent that is exhibited each year.
• The Topcoder community continued to solve tough technology problems for our amazing customers further showcasing the raw talent and skill that is part of our community. 
• Some of our top projects included:
  • NASA:
    • Ground Control Station (GCS) software for small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS; i.e., drones) that can be safely used for live flight operations while also providing the functionality necessary for research for advanced human-automation teaming concepts.
    • Human-Autonomy Teaming Task Battery application, or HATTB. The HATTB is a research software application used to conduct experiments that evaluate the performance of research participants as they monitor simulated autonomous vehicles and simultaneously perform various other predefined tasks.
    • NASA LAANC system is used by Air Traffic Managers (ATMs) to monitor and respond to authorization requests for operations of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
  • The Odyssey program is a specialist bank serving the blended financial needs of business owners, property entrepreneurs, and family businesses. Over the past year, the bank has been building a fully functional digital bank with the help of the Topcoder Community and Wipro taking on over 1,250 functional requirements. This is truly an Open Talent program combining crowdsourcing challenges and Topcoder freelancer talent.
• Jessie and the team started the Community Monday Meetup calls to help prepare you for what to expect each week. To help inform you of our amazing programs, learn about Topcoder Gigs, and connect with you virtually every week. We love to follow and be part of your Topcoder journey. 
• We grew Topcoder Skill Builders, Rapid Development Matches (RDMs), Rookie SRMs, and certification opportunities.
• In May we celebrated our 5th annual Gh3ablo Design month with some fun design challenges, Workshop Wednesdays, and explored NFT’s. 
• 2021 gave us our first ever TCO22 logo design bracket tournament, with a reality TV-style judging panel. My team and I had fun flashing our scorecards to pick winners!
• I was happy to bring back the Digital Run as a short-term promotion with the Front End Development Cup and to see so many of you join and earn an extra bonus. 
• Topcoder Gig Work took off in 2021 with many of you getting first-time gigs with Topcoder customers and showcasing your amazing talent.

A new team!

It has always been an honor to be a leader at Topcoder. My 16+ year tenure at Topcoder has been an incredible journey and I am really enthusiastic about our continued evolution. I would like to introduce a few new people and roles to you. 

Tony Jefts, is now the VP, Business Development and has been a huge part of Topcoder’s past and is leading the charge on its promising future. Tony is one of the biggest cheerleaders of the community and will continue to always put you all first. 

We also have added a Head of Customer Product, Noah Heldman and Head of Member Product, Raymond Mitchell. Both have extensive industry, product, and platform experience and are very excited to be joining Topcoder and to be part of the Topcoder community.

Health Benefits for Topcoder Members

Today we are extremely excited and proud to introduce our partner SafetyWing who provides global health insurance benefits. This will give Topcoder members the opportunity to obtain health insurance benefits directly through SafetyWing.

We are incredibly proud to be able to start this partnership, being one of the first platforms to introduce SafetyWing to our freelance members.

This partnership will kick off in April and we will be hosting a webinar on March 15 so you can talk to SafetyWing representatives and get all the details including:

• Costs
• Plan details
• Steps for members wanting to sign up

The extensive healthcare package will be available for all members in nearly every country with the exception of a few. Please do join the webinar to learn more and in the meantime, please ask any questions you have here.

Introducing Topcoder Discord

We are first and foremost a community and that is what sets us apart. When you join Topcoder, you become part of a club that loves butter chicken, loves competitive programming, solving tough technology problems, designing enterprise applications, building software, loving all things Topcoder Open, and we try to connect regularly through whatever means we can.

That is why Discord at Topcoder makes so much sense. Discord allows us to be together to connect in a new and meaningful way.

Topcoder Discord provides you with:

• A quick way to connect on all things Topcoder
• The ability to connect with members in your region.
• The opportunity to be in the know of all that is going on from TCO leaderboards, to new challenges, to upcoming events and new freelance gig work opportunities.
• A chance to “meet” some of the people you compete against every day.
• A place to learn how you can be successful at Topcoder.
• The opportunity to have some fun!

Today we are inviting everyone to join our Topcoder Discord server. 

Plans for 2022

Big plans for 2022! Everyone at Topcoder is focused on more competitions, more events, more customers, and more learning opportunities. Make sure to join our Community Monday Meetups and say hello!

Last week we introduced our new On-Demand offering! We just launched Website Design with more development and data science offerings to follow. Spread the word! If you want to solve tough technology problems – let a Topcoder help.

Remember to be bold! Be curious, ask questions. Remember Topcoder is here to help you on your journey.