Behind the Infobip Algorithm Challenge

Algorithms and problem solving have been my passions since an early age. It probably sounds like a cliche – an engineer who loves solving problems - except it's true, and it’s one of the reasons I do what I do today.

When I started at Infobip, I realized I found myself surrounded by other engineers who share my love for algorithms - and I joined a company that supports pursuing things you're passionate about. In Engineering at Infobip, there's probably something for everyone: book clubs, meetups, people writing their own blogs, and knowledge sharing sessions. Soon after I joined the team, we launched a series of internal live lectures covering different algorithms and their practical application, which combined my passion for algorithms with another one of my passions – knowledge sharing!

The birth of an idea

The lectures gained momentum and became one of the most engaging activities we did. Apparently, engineers liked discussing about this topic and we discovered we have a few former competitors among our ranks. Naturally, we started talking and realized we had common passions about algorithms, and yet there was almost no support from the already existing community or activities that allowed us to connect over this and have fun.

That's when the idea behind the Infobip Algorithm Challenge was born – the first-ever algorithm competition of its kind in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the beginning of 2021.

The idea was to create an open event which would connect anyone with a passion for algorithms and a love for challenges in a fun and engaging way.

The Challenge

Participants of the Infobip Algorithm Challenge took part in a two-day competition that included six challenging tasks created by Infobip engineers.

The tasks did not only have to be correct, but also had to fit into the time and memory constraints to gain the maximum number of points. Since we managed the whole competition internally, we had to ensure nothing went wrong on the day of the actual competition. We did what any engineer should do before pushing something into production – we ran a test, collected data, and prepared for the worst but hoped for the best.

The test competition was held internally and it was a chance for Bippers to test their skills and win some cool prizes (congrats everyone!), while making sure everything was going smoothly and would be ready to support almost 200 actual competitors that signed up!

Once everything was tested and ready, we rolled out with the real two-day competition. 48 hours later, we had our winners! The first-place winner collected 390 out of 600 points - hey, we did say it wasn’t going to be easy! All of our winners achieved amazing results, but one of the most interesting facts was that 3 out of 4 prize winners were under the age of 18. Our first, third, and excellence awards went to brilliant young minds in our country, marking their names in competitions all over the world.

It makes me incredibly happy and proud to have been able to be a part of this story and to create a space that recognizes young talent - so this is a personal win for me, too. The Infobip Algorithm Challenge represents our contribution to nurturing the algorithm and computer science community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is only the first step in our continuous efforts and with this success story, I look forward to what's coming next.