Meet the Michael Jordan of Coding

At 21, Gennady Vladimirovich Korotkevich is already a legend. Tourist, as he’s known online, is now the world's top sport programmer. He competes against other people to solve coding puzzles, and he's darn good at it. Perhaps too good.

"Probably the only person making a living at sport programming is Gennady because he wins so many of the competitions," says Vladimir Novakovski, a retired sport programmer who still follows the competitions closely. “We’ve never seen anyone like him.”

With his skills, Korotkevich could get a high-paying job at just about any company in Silicon Valley. But the Belarusian isn’t ready to be a coding professional just yet. This fall he’ll return to class at Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics, he’s said, in possible preparation for a career in science.

It would be nice to tell you that sport coding is riveting to watch. And it would be equally nice to dish on the charms of the sport’s current superstar programming god. The reality of the situation, however, is that sport coding does not offer much in the way of high drama or charismatic personalities. Still, sport coding has gone relatively unnoticed for too long. It’s a form of competition that rewards natural talent, perseverance, and teamwork. And, even more crucial for life in 2015, being a good sport coder is a surefire way for an 18-year-old to get noticed by the thousands of companies looking to rain money down on talented software developers. 

Facebook’s Hacker Cup, one of the few annual sport-coding events hosted by a tech giant, began earlier this year with virtual preliminary rounds in which people try to solve problems online. The top contestants receive all-expenses-paid invitations to a competition at Facebook's headquarters. It should come as no surprise to learn that most of the finalists are computer science-minded youngsters from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Asia who view the Hacker Cup as a nice way to get a trip to Silicon Valley and maybe have a job interview or two while in town eating free sushi.

The Hacker Cup final takes place in an all-purpose event room set up with four rows of drab desks flanked by cheesy posters with screaming block-letter slogans like “FOCUS” and “BE BOLD.” Almost all of the competitors make use of the desk in the same way, connecting a massive flatscreen to their laptops and keeping a notepad and pen close at hand.

All of the competitors—and this will come as a shock—are men, or at least on their way to becoming men. They’re not the healthiest-looking bunch, with an average weight that appears to be no more than 120 pounds. There's a disturbingly stereotypical assortment of ticks, both verbal and gesticular, as well as bowl haircuts, wan faces, and shabby clothes. Mark Zuckerberg would look like an Adonis in this room.

Cont'd . . .