eGENTING Programming Competition 2006

From left to right: Badlisham Ghazali, Lim Fang-Yin, Alven Lee, Ezwan Aizat, Jonathan Searcy, Derrik Khoo

From left to right: Thomas Ng, Stanley Ng, Badlisham Ghazali, Mohana Narayana, C. Jayanthi, Lau Kok Soon, Jonathan Searcy, Derrik Khoo

The eGENTING Programming Competition has celebrated its fifth anniversary with a special edition that brought together over one hundred undergraduates, graduates and professionals throughout Malaysia to contest for the top prizes.

Monash University Malaysia undergraduate, Ezwan Aizat Bin Abdullah Faiz, emerged top winner of the eGENTING Programming Competition 2006 held in November last year. Ezwan who was a first-timer in the competition, managed to overcome more than 100 contestants in the programming challenge to clinch the top prize comprising RM6,000 cash and an opportunity to work with eGENTING Research & Development (Systems).

The first runner-up went to Alven Lee Weng Wei, a graduate of Multimedia University Cyberjaya, who waltzed off with RM3,000 cash and a job opportunity with eGENTING Research & Development (Systems). Persistence won Alven the prize as this was his third attempt in 5 years of the competition history. His advice to other contestants “Never give up. Keep trying. You’ll learn from your mistakes, so you’ll do better next time”.

Lim Fang-Yin, an undergraduate of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, was the second runner-up and walked away with RM2,000 cash and a job opportunity with eGENTING Research & Development (Systems).

Along with the top three winners, there were also two distinction winners and four others who achieved the level of merit in the under 26 years old category.

In the professional category (26 years old & above), Chandran Jayanthi came out first and took home a Star Cruises holiday package plus a HP Compaq notebook. The first runner-up went to Lau Kok Soon who also took home a HP Compaq notebook plus a Genting holiday package. Mohana Narayanamurthy Narasimhan was the second runner-up and he won a DB2 course + certification test, plus a Genting holiday package.

En. Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), was in Genting Highlands to honour the nation’s talented programmers. The prize presentation ceremony was also attended by Mr Derrik Khoo, Chief Innovation Officer of Genting Berhad and other senior personnel of the Genting Group, representatives from the prize sponsors (HP, IBM, Star Cruises & Resorts World Bhd) as well as academics, undergraduates and graduates.

The eGENTING Programming Competition started in 2002. Since then, eGENTING has conducted similar competitions on an annual basis. The competition is supported by MDeC and has in the past attracted strong participations from all major institutions of higher learning (IHLs) throughout Malaysia including people trained overseas. The past competitions have witnessed the birth of some of the more talented programmers in the nation and have demonstrated to all participants the standards they must meet in order to undertake serious software development projects.

More details of the eGENTING Programming Competition, including reviews of past competitions, are available at www.genting.com.my/rnd.