One week until Code Jam kicks off—here’s why you should register

Code Jam, Google’s longest-running programming competition, is returning for its sixteenth year. We’re offering another season of challenging algorithmic problems (including some that are interactive) for our global community. Whether you’re a seasoned contestant or brand new to the coding competition space, here are three reasons why you shouldn’t miss Code Jam 2019:

1. Solve intriguing and fun problems. Every year, the Code Jam engineering team and a dedicated group of Google contributors spend thousands of combined hours creating, testing and publishing some of the toughest problem sets in the world. Despite the complexity of these problems, we hear from contestants that they enjoy the playful nature of Code Jam problem statements. (Who wouldn’t want to help a group of raucous mathematicians with their party acoustics?) One of our more recent and unusual problems, Name-Preserving Network, required contestants to evaluate a scrambled network (of their own design) to prove they could map it back to its original configuration. This was also an interactive problem, in which contestants’ code had an adaptive conversation with our judge. We introduced problems like this to Code Jam in 2018, and we’re proud to offer many more this year. The best part? All you need to get started is access to a computer and an internet connection.
2. Experience some of the old, plus some of the new. We’re bringing back the beloved “ask a question” feature this year, which gives contestants the opportunity to interact with Code Jam engineers during online rounds. We’re also introducing new concepts, like the ability to test a solution on our servers as well as providing certificates to our competitors. Our website and platform received a refreshed look and feel that we’re debuting this season. But don’t worry—the Code Jam staples you may know and love aren’t going away. We’re retaining our contest structure and the coveted prizes—our World Champion will take home $15,000, while the top 1,000 competitors will win a limited edition 2019 t-shirt. And speaking of the World Finals…
3. Join us back where it all started. After our last online round wraps up in June, we’re looking forward to returning to the Bay Area for the World Finals. Out of the tens of thousands of contest participants, only the top 25 will qualify to attend on Friday, August 9th at Google’s San Francisco office. As always, we’ll livestream the competition on YouTube so that you can watch the action from anywhere. While this is our inaugural World Finals in San Francisco, we’re feeling nostalgic about heading back to the Bay Area for the first time in ten years. Almost all of the early Code Jam final rounds took place at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, CA.

The Qualification Round takes place on April 5 (one week from today!), so now’s the time to register for this year’s Code Jam. For the exact time zone in your location, visit our schedule page. We also recommend warming up with previous problems to improve your chances of advancing to Round 1. Do you have what it takes?