A tete-a-tete with the gaming wizards of HT Code-a-thon 2021
With the world becoming digital and geographical boundaries getting blurred, coding seems to be the future of technology. India has no dearth of coding enthusiasts. However, coding for kids is still at a nascent stage in the country. Realising the need to make coding mainstream for middle and high schoolers, Hindustan Times organised the second edition of Hindustan Times Code-a-thon 2021 recently and witnessed a massive participation from over 2,200 schools and more than 25,000 students. The programme, that commenced on August 31, 2021 concluded with a virtual felicitation ceremony conducted on January 20, 2022.
Organised in age appropriate modules (Class IV-V: App Development, Class VI-VII: Web Designing and Class VIII-IX: Game Development), the contest was aimed at giving an opportunity to students to learn coding remotely and showcase their creativity at the national level. Divided into a six-step process post registration, the students were given resources such as video lectures, practice sets and quizzes available as online learning modules. The Qualifier and Finale rounds were conducted in November and January, respectively where the top three winners from each category and zone walked away smilingly with exciting prizes such as laptops, tablets and smartwatches. SpeED Labs, IBM, Intel, Hindu Tamil Thisai and Lufthansa Airlines were the official partners for the HT Code-a-thon.
After the announcement of results, HT School caught up with the winners from the Game Development category across North and South zones for a freewheeling chat. Read on.
Sahil Gupta, Somerville School, Greater Noida, Grade VIII
Rank: 1 (North Zone)
Being a topper in the North zone in the Game Development category proved to be the most memorable moment for Sahil! According to him, HT Code-a-thon 2021 was an informative and amazing experience. He had also participated in the 1st edition of HT Code-a-thon. “In HT Code-a-thon 2020, I had learnt about web development, while, this time I grasped the concepts related to Python and Pyglet in game development,” he shares.
Starting his preparation early, Sahil tried solving some coding questions he found on the internet. This helped him perform better during the learning stage of the contest. Spelling out the differences between both the editions of the Hindustan Times Code-a-thon programme, the youngster says, “This time, the official website was more interactive,” he says.
Champion’s Tips: Coding is pure logic with Maths added to it. Keep preparing, learning and participating in coding competitions to improve your skills.
Amogh Gupta, PIET Sanskriti Senior Secondary School, Panipat, Grade IX
Rank: 2 (North Zone)
HT Code-a-thon 2021 was Amogh’s debut coding competition. He took it upon himself to learn something new out of this even though he registered quite late for it. Sharing his thoughts about the contest, Amogh says, “Completing all the tutorials and lectures on time was a challenge for me. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to complete all the modules before attempting the practice quizzes.” However, making it to the Qualifier increased his confidence. “I was super thrilled when my name was announced as one of the winners in the final round,” he says.
“Before taking part in this HT Code-a-thon 2021, I did not know that games can be created using Python programming language.” Inspired by his success in the competition, the young learner aspires to make a career in coding as an app developer when he grows up.
Champion’s Tips: Participate in many more such online competitions as they motivate you to perform better next time.
Ashmeet Singh, Delhi Public School, Greater Faridabad, Grade VIII
Rank: 3 (North Zone)
Like Amogh, Ashmeet was also a first-time participant in a coding competition. Encouraged by his father to enrol for HT Code-a-thon 2021, he found the experience to be interactive. Attending webinars and extra classes related to coding organised by his school helped the teenager develop an interest in this field and he decided to give this national level competition a shot.
Sharing the secret to striking a balance between studies and extracurricular activities such as coding, Ashmeet says, “I set my priorities based on the need of the hour and make sure my school work doesn’t suffer due to coding and vice versa.
Champion’s Tips: Some coding concepts may be difficult to understand in the present, but you can get a hang of them with more clarity in the future. So, keep going and don’t stop learning.
Shashwat Singhal, Reliance Foundation School, Mumbai, Grade IX
Rank: 1 (South Zone)
Like Sahil from the North zone, Shashwat had also participated in the first edition of the Hindustan Times Code-a-thon that took place in 2020. Due to his keen interest in coding as well as all the immense learning derived from last year’s contest, Shashwat registered for HT Code-a-thon 2021 as well. Capitalising on the knowledge gained about coding through watching YouTube videos, the avid coder went on to ace one learning module after another until eventually making it to the final round.
Describing the difference in takeaways from two versions of the competition, Shashwat says, “This time, I learned and achieved more as my focus was on having a better understanding about every topic given in the learning module videos. I revised all the concepts thoroughly and the applied them to the given questions.” Describing both the Qualifier and Finale as equally challenging and interactive, he found the entire experience to be excellent in terms of exposure to programmimg languages like Python and the Pyglet library for developing games of one’s choice. Consolidating all that he’s learnt so far, the coding geek hopes to create his own games in the future.
Champion’s Tips: Go with the flow and at times, write the code on your own. Don’t panic if you get stuck somewhere. Online resources will help you figure out a way.
Tejas, Eggheads Education Pvt. Ltd., Bengaluru, Grade VIII
Rank: 2 (South Zone)
Tejas credits his father for having introduced him to the world of coding at a young age. Like a few other participants, it’s the second time that the young lad had participated in HT Code-a-thon. Though he couldn’t make it to the Qualifier round of the 2020 edition, Tejas didn’t give up took the coding contest more seriously this time. He also improved his preparation strategy. “I tried to eliminate the mistakes I had made earlier and also took notes of every topic,” shares Tejas.
“Getting to know that I was among one of the top three winners of HT Code-a-thon 2021 South zone was the most memorable moment for me,” he adds. According to him, the key takeaway from this coding Olympiad would be learning a lot of visualisations. “I find coding quite addictive. I had also participated in a Game Jam where I went on to create a proper, fully functional game,” he shares.
Champion’s Tips: Problem solving is a crucial skill. Work on it.
Ameeth Kulkarni, DAV Public School, Thane, Grade IX
Rank: 3 (South Zone)
Inspired by the movie Avengers where Iron Man is helped by various AI-based systems in his daily work, Ameeth developed an interest in coding around a year ago. He started researching about coding tutorials on YouTube and this year, he wanted to experience what it was like to participate in a coding competition. Hindustan Times Code-a-thon 2021 provided him the perfect platform to test his abilities. Describing his journey about the contest, Ameeth says, “The videos and quizzes leading up to the competition were fun and enlightening. Going through the preparatory material over and over again for the Qualifier and Finale rounds helped me become well-equipped to face the tough challenges ahead.”
Learning to make a proper code was one of the major takeaways for the budding coder during the competition. “Testing yourself after watching every video provided sufficient practice time and cleared my concepts too,” he says.
Champion’s Tips: Be patient as your code could have errors. Learn to find solutions and reduce those errors.