Meet the Top Coders From Tech Challenge 2021!

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On October 15-16, we welcomed the top 20 finalists of the 2021 Tech Challenge, our annual event that connects the next generation of tech talent with business leaders & hiring managers…with a lot of laughs, lessons, and coding as well! 

This year’s Tech Challenge was one of our largest to date, with 100+ students and recent graduates from 28 universities across the country participating in our qualifying challenge. From there, our top 20 coders were invited to 1871 for our in-person main event. 

Our finalists represented seven top universities, including: 

• Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
• University of Chicago
• Purdue University
• The University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaign
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 
• University of Minnesota
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

We kicked off the weekend on Friday with a cocktail welcome reception, where students had a chance to meet their fellow finalists and network with representatives from our sponsors—Abbvie, Caterpillar, State Farm, TransUnion, and Grainger. 

With the drinks and conversation flowing, our very own Betsy Ziegler took the stage to welcome everyone. She offered a few words of wisdom to our young tech stars, including a reminder of how important it was to continue to learn and grow their talents.

“You are only at the beginning of your journey, and the 1871 Tech Challenge is an incredible opportunity for you on this part of your career path,” Betsy noted.

Day two began with breakfast at 1871, a tasty way to lead into our final challenge. Our finalists had 2 hours to complete the coding assessment, and the top 5 were determined by overall score and the amount of time taken to complete. 

After some fast-paced coding, our finalists were off to explore Chicago as the results were evaluated! Making their way through Fulton Market and River North, some students treated themselves to a delicious steak dinner while others got to experience their first taste of Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza. 

Finally, it was the moment everyone was waiting for, as our finalists returned to the 1871 space for the closing ceremony where winners were set to be announced.

Our finalists were some of the most impressive young coders we’ve had to date, with eight students receiving a perfect score on their assessment. Coming in first place was Ziyi Z., who not only scored 100% but also completed it in the blistering time of just 41 minutes and 25 seconds! 

Our full list of winners included: 

• FIrst place — Ziyi Z. from University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Second place — Mingrui L. from University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Third place — Trung D. from Purdue University 
• Fourth place — Yash G. from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Fifth place — Max Z. from Georgia Institute of Technology

We handed out a total of over $10K in cash prizes to our incredible group of finalists, including a grand prize of $3.5K to our first place winner Ziyi! 

Thank you again to our partners AbbVie, State Farm, Grainger, TransUnion, and Caterpillar for making this year’s event possible, and congratulations again to our winners, finalists, and everyone who participated! Tech Challenge 2021 made it clear that the future of tech is bright with these exceptionally talented young coders joining and leading the way in our community.