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We caught up with Wendell, March's Design Coder of the Month, and PE, March's Development Coder of the Month, to learn a little bit more about them, their proudest TopCoder moments, and anything else they wish to share with the community.
Three 1st place finishes
One 3rd place finish
What brought you to TopCoder?
I heard about TopCoder in 2004, but I didn't start competing until albertwang told me more about the details in 2005, which brought a big change to my career.
What is your proudest TopCoder moment?
There are many such moments. But if I have to choose one I'll say it's the first time that I won a development competition. I got several 2nd places before I got my first winning and that winning really cheered me up.
What is the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?
Having to work on weekends, which is also the time I want to share with my family.
What is one thing that you have learned at TopCoder that has helped you in other areas of your life?
Never stop learning.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
- Read the review scorecards carefully before competing.
- Learn from the top developers/designers submissions.
- Better find an experienced TopCoder member that you can ask questions, this would be really helpful. :)
What is the biggest contributor to your progress this month?
The desire to be one of the TCO 08 finals. :)
What is your most stressful TopCoder moment?
Having to solve a difficult problem in a very limited timeline. I used to work on several TopCoder internal projects and I had many such moments that time.
What do you do for fun outside of TopCoder?
Read novels, watch movies and do some sports.
What sights are there to see in your area?
There are many sights which you can find here. The GuangZhou Baiyun Mountain is a very famous one.
What foods are there to taste in your area?
Roast Goose, Gold Medal Sulking Pig, Salted Chicken, etc....
Four 1st place finishes
What brought you to TopCoder?
I got to know the website http://acm.zju.edu.cn by accident in my second year at university and found it was very interesting to solve such algorithm problems with computer programs. I began the coding life from that time, to be more precise, the time after I joined the ACM-ICPC team of my university. In that team, there are a lot of TC members, like WishingBone, XuChuan, tjq, oldbig, zjq and so on. They brought me to the TopCoder.
What is your proudest TopCoder moment?
Win both the TCCC06 and TCCC07
What is the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?
My English is not very good. I found it will be a bit overloaded when I try to do the design competitions - writing the CS is really a headache.
What is one thing that you have learned at TopCoder that has helped you in other areas of your life?
As said by magicpig: Make everything perfect.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
I think a good coder should have a background for good knowledge of algorithm and data structure, and we can see many good designers also have a very high rating in algorithm part. So I recommend to take part in every SRM if possible.
What is the biggest contributor to your progress this month?
My PM, he did not assign me much work this month, haha.
What is your most stressful TopCoder moment?
I think it should be the TCO07. I was beaten by hefeng with very very small gap.
What do you do for fun outside of TopCoder?
Watch movies, play games, and play cards with my friends.
What sights are there to see in your area?
Beautiful Hangzhou and beautiful West Lake.
What foods are there to taste in your area?
Dongpo pork, Beggar's chicken, fried shrimps with Longjing tea, West Lake fish.
