I wish I could have taken part in this. And the won the contest, so I could get to schmooze with Big Bill, the Big Chief at Microsoft Corporation. But that’s just wishful thinking, so let’s get on with it. I am talking about the "Code 4 Bill" talent hunt here, launched by Microsoft India. Mr Gates himself announced the contest during his tour of discovery to India last month. "Code 4 Bill" is aimed at identifying India’s best student technologists.
The winner of the talent hunt will get an opportunity to work directly with Gates’ technical assistants team for one full year. They will also get an opportunity to learn about cutting-edge product development and innovations by working directly with Microsoft’s Product Development and Research teams.
And there appear to be a whole bunch of young pistols out there who are willing to do battle to "Code 4 Bill". In fact, 20,000 of them, when registrations closed on January 18, according to Microsoft. It said the contest comprises four stages. In the first stage, students were required to register for the contest and solve three online technical challenges. The top 10 per cent based on the cumulative scores at the end of the first stage will move to the next stage and undergo face-to-face interviews with an interview panel comprising of Microsoft executives. Twenty students from the second stage will then be shorlisted for the next stage and will get an opportunity to intern with Microsoft India. Based on the feedback obtained by them during this stage, five of these twenty participants will move to the fourth stage. During the fourth stage, the five students will face a series of challenges administered/conceived by Mr Gates’ Technical Assistant Team, and based on the scores at the end of this stage, one out of these five contestants will be selected to work with Mr Gates’ technical team in the US for a period of one year.