Topcoder Reflections: Observations from a Decade of Crowdsourcing with the Public Sector
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Topcoder was founded in 2001 with the goal of identifying the best developers through competition. Over the past decade, Topcoder has helped catalyze public sector crowdsourcing and transformed how the US government develops software and conducts research and development. Topcoder now has over 1.3 million members from around the world and has run challenges for many government agencies. It has also partnered with companies like IBM, Apple, GE, and Wipro to launch new crowdsourcing communities.
Topcoder Reflections: Observations from a Decade of Crowdsourcing with the Public Sector
- 1. Topcoder Reflections MICHAEL CONTRERAS | CROWDSOURCING WEEK GLOBAL | 10 / 25/ 2018 A Decade of Public Sector Crowdsourcing
- 2. Topcoder was founded with a simple goal: identify the best developers in the world through competition. Over the past decade, Topcoder has been a catalyst for public sector crowdsourcing, reframing the way the US Federal Government develops software and conducts R&D.
- 3. Topcoder Community Topcoder is home to the world’s largest network of Designers, Developers, and Data Scientists. The Topcoder Community includes more than 1.3 million members from every country around the world.
- 4. Community members in over 190 countries More engineers than Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter combined Challenges per quarter New members per week Paid to the community Logins every 90 days 1M+ 5x 1400 1800 $80m 35k
- 5. Where we have been . . . 2001 Topcoder launches gamified platform for computer scientists to demonstrate skills and gain notoriety. First Topcoder Community member ratings are published. 2010 The NASA Tournament Lab is formed. Topcoder begins to work on app dev and algorithm projects for many Federal agencies through Harvard. 2005 NSA begins to sponsor the Topcoder Open for recruiting purposes. Full application development stack capabilities added in 2006. 2004 Harvard publishes its first academic study on Topcoder. First commercial offering for software components. 2011 Topcoder is onboarded to the GSA Schedule for Challenges and Competition Services. DARPA taps Topcoder to launch STEM education community for teens. 2015 Topcoder is awarded a spot on the NASA Open Innovation Services contract vehicle through 2020. Topcoder and Apple partner to launch the iOS Community. 2007 First commercial Marathon Match conducted to develop an enterprise data science solution. Topcoder Community expands to include UX design. 2017 Topcoder has run challenges for CMS, I-ARPA, EPA, Air Force, DOE, VA, PTO, OPM, USAID Topcoder and IBM partner to launch the Cognitive Community. 2016 Topcoder surpasses 1 million- member mark. Topcoder and GE partner to launch the IoT Community. Wipro acquires Topcoder to transform its business and the IT services industry. 2009 The NSA “Enigma” Marathon Match is hosted on Topcoder based on the famous WWII era decoding of the Enigma machine, a cryptographic security system. 01 04 05 07 09 10 11 15 16 17
- 6. 6 It started with recruiting…
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- 17. 17 DATA SCIENTISTS 450K AVERAGE # COMPETITORS PER CHALLENGE 78 AVERAGE #SUBMISSIONS PER CHALLENGE 578 Topcoder’s Data Science Community
- 18. 18 Algorithms and Analytics Sales Enablement Algorithms and Analytics Overview Products ● Algorithm Optimization ● Predictive Analytics ● Image and Pattern Recognition ● Objective Optimization Crowdsourcing Contests ● Marathon Match ● Banner Match ● Mini Marathon Match ● Data Science First-to- Finish (F2F) ● Data Science Sprint ● Data Visualization ● Data Science Ideation Objectively scores with an automated scoring function that feeds the Topcoder live leaderboard. Restricted to the following languages: Java, C++, C#.NET, VB.NET, or Python. Objectively scores with an automated scoring function that feeds the Topcoder live leaderboard. Competitors are allowed to use any language and libraries to write their solution. A shorter duration, more straight-forward version of the Marathon Match. Has the same structure and rules of a regular Marathon Match but a smaller prize purse for competitors. Objectively scores with an automated scoring function that feeds the Topcoder live leaderboard. Restricted to the following languages: Java, C++, C#.NET, VB.NET, or Python. A predetermined threshold is selected for the match, and once a competitor reaches the desired threshold score the match ends and the first place winner receives the one prize available. A series of smaller, more rapid data science challenges with a manual scoring function and no leaderboard. Competitors are allowed to use any language and libraries to write their solution. A hybrid project completed by a series of data science tasks to find the unique qualities or “highlights” in the data, followed by design challenges to visualize the data. The output of this kind of project is static screens. Looks to discover or learn new approaches, data, and ideas from the community.
- 19. Predictive Toxicology - Environmental Safety Predictive Analytics Every day we come into contact with common pesticides. Which chemicals, in what dosage, can cause us harm? See how the EPA used crowdsourcing to deliver more accurate predictive analysis. Learn More
- 20. 338 49 a Brand New Approach discovered, tested, and shared with their scientific community REGISTRANTS COMPETITORS 804 SUBMISSIONS 3 CHALLENGE DURATION WEEKS
- 22. 22 Topcoder Studio circa 2009
- 25. 25 Translate your mobile or web app idea into a structured design brief that includes a description of the design concept, use case scenarios, design guidelines, and a low-fidelity mockup of basic UI/UX elements. What’s Included Application design brief crowdsourced in the Topcoder Marketplace. A Topcoder copilot manages all logistics. What You Receive Written visual design brief for up to five screens of a single application. You pay only for the winning brief, not hours, and you own the final deliverables. Design Brief Plan the UI/UX design of your application Application Wireframe
- 27. 27 Code Development packages make it easy to add the people and skills you need to round out your team, free valuable time, and accelerate development. Crowdsource specific phases of your development process or end-to- end application builds. What’s Included Code or task crowdsourced in the Topcoder Marketplace. A Topcoder copilot manages all logistics. What You Receive Ready-to-deploy code, interface, or service built to your specs. You pay only for the winning code, not hours, and you own the final deliverables. Code Development Enterprise-grade code for every stage of the dev life cycle Code Development
- 28. POWERED BY Eight month challenge Multiple concurrent development work streams Third round of human testing
- 29. 29 New HorizonsVA WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT This is footer and you can change the content or delete if you wanted to
- 30. 30 What is the TCVC? The TCVC is Topcoder’s Veterans Community ● The VA has 3 projects in motion at Topcoder via NASA - web, analytics & mobile ● Each VA project includes funding for the TCVC ● Topcoder teams with OperationCode, a veterans 503(c) to source members The TCVC is a place for US Veterans and Active Duty to learn and compete The TCVC is hosted as a private community within Topcoder’s platform ● Challenges run inside the TCVC are open only to US Veterans and Active Duty ● Challenges types run from “Hello World” style to complex multi-challenge series ● Challenges also come to the TCVC via the VA’s projects as well ● Topcoder challenges can be cross-posted to TCVC with different prizes On veterans.topcoder.com, Vets compete against each other, mentor each other, code solutions for paying customers, earn prizes and payments, and build their resumes by working on actual customer solutions.
- 31. 31 What are the goals of the TCVC? VA Goals Cultivate and Prepare veterans for entry into the tech world ● Give veterans the opportunity to PROSUMERS ● Provide opportunity for veterans to demonstrate current, marketable tech skills Topcoder Goals Use the TCVC as an incubator for new community members ● Cultivate new members ● Train and grow new copilots who will eventually lead projects in our regular community ● Create a compelling story for Topcoder
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- 33. Our moment . . .
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- 36. Harvard Topcoder | Wipro ?
- 37. 37 Special thanks to . . . Andy LaMora Clinton Bonner Rashid SialJessie Ford Mike Morris Brendan Wright