The world’s first high-school competitors centered on utility growth and actual enterprise processes of main tech corporations begins a brand new chapter
As digital ecosystems broaden at an unprecedented velocity, the worldwide IT trade faces an acute scarcity of expertise able to working with large-scale, industrial software program programs. Against this backdrop, the International Software Engineering Olympiad PROD has carved out a definite area of interest. Launched in January 2024, this system rapidly turned one of many few platforms the place high-school college students from a number of international locations resolve actual enterprise challenges, discover the structure of advanced software program programs, and achieve a mindset formed by the workflow of enterprise-level engineering groups. Registration for the brand new season closes on December 2, and the initiative is more and more seen as a gateway for younger folks to discover the total spectrum of recent technological growth.
PROD is without doubt one of the fastest-growing schooling initiatives in recent times, bringing collectively high-school college students round duties drawn immediately from real-world trade. The initiative is run by a number of Russian organizations: Central University – a new-generation STEM-oriented establishment ranked amongst Russia’s main universities and one of many high 10 best for admission; T-Technologies, a significant fintech firm; and the Faculty of Computer Science at HSE University.
The concept was born as an try to provide youngsters an early, knowledgeable pathway right into a occupation shaping the longer term technological panorama. Importantly, the organizers emphasize that no prior programming expertise is required – primary data of arithmetic and pc science is adequate.
PROD permits college students from grades 8 to 12 to check themselves in industrial growth, some of the advanced branches of IT. Its debut season in 2024 was a milestone as PROD turned the world’s first worldwide Olympiad of this sort. More than 6,000 functions have been submitted. During the second season, which opened in December 2024, over 10,000 college students utilized, and 4,000 Russian-speaking individuals from greater than 20 international locations – together with the UK, Germany, France, Canada, China and Peru – took half. In simply two cycles, the Olympiad has advanced from a standalone worldwide contest into a real bridge linking colleges, universities, and the know-how sector.
The new season opens in December 2025, with outcomes introduced in March 2026. For the primary time, the competitors is totally bilingual – in English and Russian – making it accessible to college students worldwide.
The design of PROD ensures that college students from any nation can full the total journey: from introductory duties to a remaining undertaking protection. Most levels are held on-line, reducing entry limitations and establishing PROD as a really international educational platform. Only the ultimate spherical takes place offline in Moscow, with lodging for worldwide individuals totally coated by the organizers.
The competitors begins with a distant check in arithmetic and primary programming – similar for all individuals no matter nationwide curricula. The second spherical focuses on case challenges in frontend and backend growth, cellular engineering, and MLOps, every reflecting the realities of recent tech industries world wide. This construction helps college students grasp ideas relevant not solely in Russian or European fintech, but additionally throughout international digital ecosystems.
The remaining stage consists of two rounds. In the person spherical, finalists develop a undertaking inside their chosen observe; within the staff spherical, they collaborate to create full-scale options primarily based on instances offered by the organizers.
PROD’s rising worldwide standing is strengthened by its actual influence on individuals’ futures. Over two years, this system has constructed its personal growth ecosystem: 39 finalists and award-winners have secured internships at T-Technologies – an organization growing a significant monetary and life-style companies ecosystem – with 19 at the moment interning and 9 already employed full-time. More than 120 individuals from the earlier season enrolled at Central University, together with 50 finalists and 20 winners and prize-winners.
In a world the place software program has change into a common language, initiatives like PROD form a brand new era of engineers – younger professionals able to constructing world-class digital merchandise even earlier than getting into college. The Olympiad has already confirmed that high-school college students are prepared for this problem, and its worldwide enlargement ensures that younger folks wherever on the earth can entry this expertise.
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