FICT students win third place in coding competition

Another proud moment for the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) when two of its students Bachelor of Computer Science (Honours) student Peh Jing Tze and Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours) Communications and Networking student Ng Kai Xiang won third place at the National Grand Finals round of the Top Coders 2024 competition, held on 21 December 2024 at Taylor’s University.

The final-round event marked the dedication and hard work of the respective university teams who triumphed in their respective campus-level competitions and saw the teams competing alongside other top teams. It also served as a platform for the participants to showcase their skills and their ability to claim the Top Coder title.

Peh enthused, “I am excited because this achievement reflects my hard work and dedication to practising and enhancing my coding skills. Although I was not able to complete all the questions, I was still happy to know that my coding skills have improved from the questions. Therefore, I am thankful for the workshops and pre-competition training sessions that I participated in because I learnt about Python skills, and to my team member as well, who greatly contributed to this winning.”

He added, “This competition has also taught me the importance of continuous learning, which is important to achieve our goals. I spent a lot of time self-learning and practising coding because I was new to Python. Furthermore, this competition taught me the importance of being disciplined and diligent, and stepping out of my comfort zone. So I am grateful for this experience.”

Ng expressed, “I was surprised and happy. My initial purpose for participating in this competition was to gain experience, and I didn’t expect to make it into the top five. At the same time, this experience made me realise that there is still much room for improvement. My success was inseparable from the cooperation of my team member and my thorough preparation before the competition. Additionally, during the competition, I learned to stay calm under pressure and focus on solving problems. These factors collectively contributed to my success. Overall, I learnt to efficiently allocate time and resources, and I also improved my practical application skills. This experience helped me to strike a balance between academics and practice, and it has given me greater confidence in my studies.”

Five teams of UTAR students, each comprising two members, successfully advanced to the final round of the competition. Earlier, 49 students from various UTAR faculties participated in the preliminary university-level challenge. This included 34 students from UTAR Sungai Long Campus and 15 from UTAR Kampar Campus. In the final round of the Top Coders 2024, a total of 90 participants representing 45 teams from 15 universities competed.