Battle of the Brains

It's been more than a year since IBM unveiled its Smarter Commerce initiative, offering software and services to help companies transform their buy, market, sell, and service processes and more quickly respond to the demands of today's digitally transformed marketplace.  This new approach empowers companies with business analytics and data, creating a supply chain prepared for the unpredictable.

As computing continues to evolve, the next generation of IT leaders like those competing in the ACM-ICPC will begin to migrate to careers focusing on big data, such as Smarter Commerce.

Podcast host Christine Guerrini welcomes Craig Hayman, General Manager of IBM Industry Solutions, to talk about IBM's innovative strategies and solutions, and ways in which they function in businesses today.  He'll also share how students can learn more about Smarter Commerce at the IBM Technology Showcase at World Finals.

To learn more about IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, check out the IBM Smarter Commerce blog and twitter handle @IBMSmrtCommerce.

World Finals is only days away, so be sure to keep up with the latest updates on the ACM ICPC website. We'll also be tweeting live from the contest via our Twitter handle @BrainBattleICPC and the hashtag #ICPC2012.

To all our World Finalists, have a safe trip!

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The ACM-ICPC has grown from a small, national contest to a global phenomenon attracting students from every edge of the globe.  ICPC Executive Director Dr. Bill Poucher has witnessed this transformation first hand, helping to shape and guide the contest over his decades of involvement.

Before Bill and the 112 World Finalist teams head to Poland, podcast host Yinka Adedeji sits down with Bill to find out what makes this contest so special and some of the spectacular events in store at the University of Warsaw.

What are you most excited about for World Finals?  Tell us via Twitter by mentioning @BrainBattleICPC or using the hashtag #ICPC2012!

**Photo credit: David Hill, ICPC Digital

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We’re only a month away from the 2012 World Finals, and we can feel the excitement building.  In addition to the quick facts we posted before, we also want to give you an idea of some of the beautiful places you may want to visit while in Warsaw:

Old Town

Warsaw’s Old Town (Stare Miasto) is the historical center of the city and dates back to the 13th century.  While the largest part of the Old Town was previously destroyed, it was later reconstructed to imitate the original precisely.  A beautiful market square spreads across the middle of the Old Town, making it a great place to people watch during the day.

Lazienki Park

This magnificent complex was built by King Stanislaw August Poniatowski during the second half of the eighteenth century.  It features the neoclassical Palace on the Water (Lazienki Palace) and is surrounded by gardens, canals and ponds.

Royal Castle in Warsaw

Originally built as the official residence of the Polish monarchs, this royal castle is located in the Castle Square at the entrance to Warsaw’s Old Town.  The castle has seen many renovations and rebuilds, but is now a historical monument and national museum.  Over 500,000 people visit the Royal Castle every year.

Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science

This structure is the tallest building in Poland and the eighth highest building in the European Union.  Visitors can observe a spectacular view of the city from the terrace on the 30th floor, 114 meters from the ground.  The PCS also boasts the highest Tower Clock in the world, with clock hands measuring six meters long. Inside visitors can enjoy the Museum of Evolution, Museum of Technik, three theatres, and a multiplex with eight cinema screens.

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This is only a taste of the amazing things in store in Warsaw.  While you’re visiting these historical sites, don’t miss out on sampling local cuisine.  The city is home to a wide selection of specialties, such as pierogi, soups, sausage and cheeses.  No matter what your tastes, there are enough regional options to keep you satisfied your entire stay!

Find more information about Warsaw and the contest on the ICPC Website, Love our fun facts? Tweet us @BrainBattleICPC and use the #ICPC2012 hashtag!

[photo credits: www.nomadicpinoy.com, www.warsawtraveltours.com, www.panoramio.com, and http://culture.poland.travel]

Whether you competed at the regionals level or made it all the way to World Finals, the Battle of the Brains is an amazing addition to your resume.  Another key line for your resume?  Internship positions.  Real-world experience is one of the best ways to kick-start your career and prepare for a global workforce.

We asked IBM’s recruitment team to give us their top five tips to land a position in the information technology field:

Show Off Your Skills

Your resume and cover letter aren’t the place to be shy.  Emphasize your academics, extracurricular activities, leadership experience, and awards.  You should also include previous jobs, even if they’re unrelated, and highlight skills you learned that could also apply to the internship.  These could include customer service, teamwork, and organization.

Be Persistent

Two to three weeks after you send in your application, follow up with a phone call to the hiring manager or human resources department to ensure they received your materials.  This is an excellent opportunity to make your name top of mind and show your sincere interest in the company.  You can continue to follow up every few weeks, but don’t overdo it.  Employers appreciate persistence, not pestering.

Use Your Network

Emailing your resume to a company and making a phone call only gets you so far.  The best way to get your foot in the door at a company is to have a connection.  Consider attending networking events through your school’s career services office or local club chapters.   You can also reach out to friends, family members and social media contacts to see if they know anyone at the company.

Make the First Move

Still haven’t found a connection?  Call someone in the department you’d like to work and ask them for just 15 minutes of their time.  Most people are very willing to help the next generation and share their personal career paths.  If you make a good impression, it’s likely that they’ll put in a good word for you with the hiring managers.

Come Prepared

Once you’ve secured an interview, you want to make a good first impression.  Enlist a friend or family member to give you a practice interview to boost your confidence.  You should also research the company and general industry trends so you can speak intelligently about why you want to work there.  Perhaps even mention a current initiative at the company that you’d love to learn more about.  On the day of your interview, “dress for success” in a clean, pressed suit or dress, and show up a few minutes early to give yourself a moment to relax.

If you’re interested in an internship at our ACM ICPC sponsor IBM, there are many options around the globe to give you real-world experience.  The IBM Extreme Blue Program is IBM's premier internship for top-notch students pursuing software development and MBA degrees. IBM also offers an IBM Research Intern Summer Program, including a variety of challenging and stimulating work assignments with one-on-one mentoring. If you have the desire to take part in cutting-edge research development while working with some of the most renowned minds in the field, these internships are a great fit.  If you want to speak with someone about your specific skills, you can get in-person advice from the IBM recruitment team in the IBM Chill Zone at World Finals in Poland.

Until then, best of luck to those preparing for World Finals.  Find travel details, schedules, and more on the ICPC Website, and don’t forget to follow and tweet us with the #ICPC2012!

Making it to World Finals once is quite the accomplishment.  Twice?  Even more impressive!

Today, podcast host Yinka Adedeji welcomes one such impressive past contestant:  IBMer Timothy Echtenkamp.  Tim and his teammates from University of Nebraska - Lincoln traveled to World Finals in Stockholm, Sweden, in 2009 and Harbin, China, in 2010.  Tim shares inside tips on how to build a strong team and beat the competition.  Hint: Start early and practice hard.

Tim also tell us about his experience in the IBM Extreme Blue Internship Program, which helped him land his current job as an IBM programmer.

Don't forget to follow us on Twitter for the latest news and updates on the contest.  Join in the conversation with our official hashtag: #ICPC2012

**We apologize for the glitches in sound quality, due to some recording issues.  Either way, Tim shares some great information. We appreciate your understanding!**

(Tim and his team at World Finals in Stockholm, Sweden)

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With the ACM ICPC World Finals in Poland quickly approaching, we thought it was time to help you brush on up your Warsaw knowledge! What better way to truly appreciate your surroundings than by jumping head first into the history and culture of this brilliant city?  Here are some quick facts to get you started:

Did you know?

• The official name of the city is The Capital City of Warsaw and it has also been known historically as Varsovia (Latin). A resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian.
• A quarter of the surface area of Warsaw is covered by “green space,” or a combination of eco-friendly structures and plant life.  This green city is filled with small neighborhood parks, courtyards and streets lined by trees, large historic parks, nature conservation areas, and even an urban forest at the fringe of the city.
• Warsaw holds the distinction of opening the world's first public library in 1747.
• Some of the most renowned Varsovians include Marie Sklodowska-Curie, noted chemist and physicist, and Fryderyk Chopin, composer and pianist.
• Polish-born astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person to propose that the earth was not the center of the universe.
• Poland boasts 17 Nobel Prize winners, including four winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and five of the Nobel Literature Prize.
• Ninety percent of the Polish population has completed at least secondary education, the highest in the European Union. The name "Poland" comes from the name of the tribe "Polanie," which used to inhabit the western part of modern-day Poland. The term meant “people living in open fields.”
• Warsaw is one of the tallest cities in Europe, boasting 11 of the tallest skyscrapers in Poland. The tallest structure, Palace of Culture and Science, is the 7th tallest building in the European Union.
• In 2010 and 2011, University of Warsaw was declared the number one university in Poland in rankings published by the national daily, Rzeczpospolita, and the education monthly, Perspektywy.
• In June 2012, Poland, together with Ukraine, will host one of the most important sporting events all over the world – the 2012 UEFA European Football Championships.

We hope this information has gotten you as excited for the World Finals as it has us! We can’t wait to explore the historic city of Warsaw with you in just a few short months, and you can find more information on our host city on the ICPC Website. In the meantime, Tweet us your country’s most interesting facts with the hashtag #ICPC2012.

Preparing for World Finals in Poland? Interested in computer programming?  Try your hand at this practice problem, straight from the 2011 World Finals in Orlando, FL!   You can find this set and more problems on the ACM ICPC website.

Trash Removal - Problem ID: trash

Allied Chute Manufacturers is a company that builds trash chutes. A trash chute is a hollow tube installed in buildings so that trash dropped in at the top will fall down and be collected in the basement. Designing trash chutes is actually highly nontrivial. Depending on what kind of trash people are expected to drop into them, the trash chute needs to have an appropriate size. And since the cost of manufacturing a trash chute is proportional to its size, the company always would like to build a chute that is as small as possible. Choosing the right size can be tough though.

We will consider a 2-dimensional simplification of the chute design problem. A trash chute points straight down and has a constant width. Objects that will be dropped into the trash chute are modeled as polygons. Before an object is dropped into the chute it can be rotated so as to provide an optimal fit. Once dropped, it will travel on a straight path downwards and will not rotate in flight. The following figure shows how an object is first rotated so it fits into the trash chute.

Your task is to compute the smallest chute width that will allow a given polygon to pass through.

Input

The input contains several test cases. Each test case starts with a line containing an integer n (3 ≤  n ≤  100), the number of points in the polygon that models the trash item. The next n lines then contain pairs of integers xi and yi (0 ≤ xi; yi ≤ 10^4), giving the coordinates of the polygonvertices in order. All points in one test case are guaranteed to be mutually distinct and the polygon sides will never intersect. (Technically, there is one inevitable exception of two neighboring sides sharing their common vertex. Of course, this is not considered an intersection.)

The last test case is followed by a line containing a single zero.

Output

For each test case, display its case number followed by the width of the smallest trash chute through which it can be dropped. Display the minimum width with exactly two digits to the right of the decimal point, rounding up to the nearest multiple of 1/100. Answers within 1/100 of the correct rounded answer will be accepted.

Follow the format of the sample output.

Sample Input                      Output for the Sample Input

3                                                     Case 1: 2.40

0  0                                                Case 2: 14.15

3  0

0  4

4

0  10

10 0

20 10

10 20

0

For the first podcast of 2012, we're treating you to a behind-the-scenes look at what - and who - makes our regionals competitions so successful.  Podcast host Christine Guerrini catches up with IBM intern Jeremy Lavergne (bottom, left) about how he got involved as an ICPC regional contest system administrator, as well as what he's working on now with IBM Software Group.  She also gets the inside scoop from former Speed Team member and current IBMer Jon Wedaman (bottom, right) on how his time as a volunteer system administrator helped his programming career.

Visit the World Finals website for the latest on this year's competition and to brush up on practice problems.  Have a fun picture of your teammates?  Tweet us @BrainBattleICPC!

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Happy Holidays from the Battle of the Brains!

Today, we're introducing a new voice to our series:  Salvatore Vella, Vice President of Architecture and Technology for IBM Software Group.  With over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, he understands both the technical aspects and the business strategy behind a successful technology company.  Podcast host Christine Guerrini catches up with Sal on how his career developed, as well as how students can utilize the ACM ICPC to take their own careers to the next level.

If you're headed to World Finals and would like to be featured on our podcast series, leave us a message in the comment section. And as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter. See you in 2012!

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When we last spoke with Steve Dale, he was on site at the 2011 World Finals in Orlando, Florida.  Now that he’s back at IBM’s DEMOCentral, Steve walks postcast host Amanda Carl through a day in the life of an IBMer and how he’s seen the industry evolve over the past decade.  He also shares fresh insights on what top technology companies are looking for in new recruits.

Check out the ACM-ICPC website for the latest updates on Regionals around the world.  We also love hearing your suggestions for new podcast topics, so give us a shout out on Twitter!

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