Even high school students in Pangasinan can now
learn how to do coding.
With the hope to turn students into contributors
to open source projects in the future, tech giant Google, Inc. launched Google
Code-in, a contest for pre-university students with the goal of encouraging
young people to participate in open source.
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Code-in Secondary
students fill-up their forms online as they join the Google Code-in contest for
pre-university students.
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Secondary students from various schools
participated in the Google Code-in Pangasinan Meet-up on Dec. 26, 2013 to
respond to the call of the company for young would-be-contributors.
Spearheaded by Google Business Group (GBG)
Pangasinan and Dagupan chapters, the meet-up encouraged the students to be
interested in the world of open source.
Chelle Grey, Google Developers’ Group (GDG)
Program Associate for Southeast Asia, graced the half-day event at the Malong
Conference Room, Malong Bldg. on the Capitol Compound, Lingayen. Halfway
through the event, she pushed the students to ask questions about Google
Code-in or share their remarks about the whole thing.
She added that they should not be shy in doing so.
With her were Reymart Canuel and Celine Marie
Barrozo, both GDG volunteers; and Jomar Tigcal, GDG Philippines Community
Manager, who discussed to the attendees what Google Code-in is all about and
other things they needed to know.
Students not younger than 13 years old and not
older than 17 years old could participate in the contest by registering on the
Google Code-in website.
Participating open source organizations would
upload a list of tasks to the website that interested students could perform.
If a student had chosen one task, he could claim it until the time he finished
it.
An evaluation team from the organization would
assess the output. If the output was satisfactory, the task would be closed. Otherwise,
the student would have to improve his work and the task would remain open.
Students who completed one task would be given a
certificate. On the other hand, participants who finished three tasks would
receive a shirt.
Furthermore, twenty grand prize winners would receive
round-trip coach air transportation for themselves and one parent or legal
guardian to Google’s Mountain View, California, USA Headquarters for four
nights where they would attend an award ceremony, have an opportunity to talk
to Google engineers and have a fun day touring San Francisco.
The contest began on Nov. 28, 2013 and ended on Jan.
6, 2014.
