Appirio and Industry Leaders Host 2014 Topcoder Open to Celebrate How Developers Are Changing the World

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Appirio announced the lineup of keynote speakers at the 2014 Topcoder Open and Developer Conference (TCO14) being held November 16-19, 2014, at Pier 48 in San Francisco, California. As the first-ever programming conference to allow developers to code their way into attending for free, TCO14 brings together the top talent from the topcoder community of more than 700,000 developers, data scientists and designers to compete in live, onstage competitions and share insights on the cutting edge of advanced technologies and development. 

In addition to the Topcoder Open tournament finals, the three-day event features:

• $20,000 API Mashathon sponsored by Facebook where developers spin a wheel and compete to build the most compelling application with the APIs they land on
• $10,000 Celebrity Algorithm Match for charity featuring topcoder and industry veterans from leading Silicon Valley companies
• Girls in STEM event and panel sponsored by Google to help educate and promote careers in technology for young women
• Pickup Games in which spectators can compete in onsite topcoder algorithm competitions for more than $5,000 in cash and prizes
• TCO14 Fun Zone demo area featuring the latest in 3D printing from 3D Systems, sound technology from HARMAN International, the DrumPants wearable controller platform and the Myo armband from Thalmic Labs -- all on display
• The Unplugged Developer Conference features industry pioneers discussing how they've used technology to redefine their fields. 2014 speakers include:
  • Jim Goetz, Partner, Sequoia Capital
  • Adrian Druzgalski, CTO and Co-Founder of Radius Intelligence
  • Gayle Laakman McDowell, Programmer, Founder and Author of "Cracking the Coding Interview"
  • Cathy Lewis, CMO at 3D Systems
  • Anthony Stevens, Solutions Architect, IBM at Watson Ecosystem
  • Scott Jelinsky, Principal Research Scientist at Pfizer
  • Samantha Ready, Developer Evangelist at Salesforce.com
  • Kait Sheridan, Director, Partnerships & Programs, Center for Innovation & Social Impact, 92Y for Giving Tuesday 

"Topcoder has always been about learning, challenging yourself to be better and creating a community around competing. The fact that the work we do with technology now affects nearly every aspect of our business and personal lives is just a bonus," said Dave Messinger, Chief Community Officer at Appirio. "TCO14 celebrates and recognizes the pivotal role that designers, developers and data scientists play in shaping our future. We are excited to bring the co-located competition and our first-ever developer conference to San Francisco, where we can share it with so many great past, current and future members."

2014 Topcoder Open Highlights
The Topcoder Open programming and design tournament runs for the entire year to narrow down the best of the best for the ultimate showdown live on stage at TCO14. Developers and designers will compete live in finals of algorithm challenges, a marathon twelve hour data science competition, design competitions and a speed round of identifying and correcting problems (mod dash). The Topcoder Open and Celebrity Algorithm Match for charity will feature some of the world's best coders, including former TCO champions, Facebook Hackers Cup winners and Google Code Jam winners (see bios here).

Attendees will also be able to experience the TCO14 Fun Zone demo area, where local topcoder members and engineers working at top technology companies can participate in fun and educational activities and network with peers. Participating companies include 3D Systems, HARMAN International, DrumPants and Thalmic Labs.

In addition to the Topcoder Open and Unplugged Developer Conference, TCO14 will be holding a "Girls in STEM" event sponsored by Google on Wednesday, November 19, 2014. The panel will showcase the diversity of jobs in the tech industry to encourage young women to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), including project and product management, software testing, usability engineering, etc. Immediately following the panel, TCO14 will host "Birds of a Feather" roundtables where students will have a chance to directly interact with these professional women panelists to ask questions and learn more about their careers. Girls in STEM Panelists include:

• Deepti Srivastava, Technical Manager at Google
• Grace Nordin, Technical Program Manager at Google
• Leah McGowen-Hare, Master Technical Trainer at Salesforce
• Ashley Mennel, Business Analyst at Appirio
• Jefreena Packianathan, Associate Workday Integrations Consultant at Appirio
• Glenn Weinstein, CIO at Appirio (Male Advocate Panelist)

Additional Event details
The 2014 Topcoder Open is sponsored by Amazon, Facebook, Google, HP Idol OnDemand, MemSQL, Sequoia Capital, Two Sigma, Salesforce.com, Booz Allen Hamilton, 3D Systems, ExactTarget, HARMAN, IBM and Microsoft. Coders can attend for free by receiving a ticket sponsored by Sequoia Capital. Learn more at: http://codeyourwayin.topcoder.com/ 

Resources and Links for TCO14

• Learn more about TCO14 
• Register for TCO14 
• Become a sponsor 
• Follow TCO14 on Twitter using #TCO14 

About Appirio
Appirio is a global cloud consultancy that helps customers achieve results in weeks, not years by harnessing the power of the world's top talent. Appirio's 700,000 member topcoder community and crowdsourcing platform, combined with the company's business and technical expertise, have helped 800+ enterprises confidently use technology to increase innovation and transform business. Founded in 2006, Appirio is a trusted partner to companies such as Apria, Coca-Cola, eBay, Facebook, Japan Post Network, L'Oreal, NetApp, The Four Seasons and Virgin America.

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SOURCE Appirio

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