CodeSprintMT a ‘great opportunity’ for aspiring and experienced software developers – MeDirect CTO

MeDirect Bank Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Chris Portelli believes CodeSprintMT is a “great opportunity” for budding and experienced software developers to challenge themselves and be part of a “like-minded community”.

His comments were made through an announcement that MeDirect has come on board as the title sponsor of the Open Developers Category during CodeSprintMT, a local coding challenge that is set to take place later this month.

Originally launched in 2018 as a coding contest for students studying computing in secondary schools, the event has now grown into a national coding championship with additional categories for post-secondary students and an open category for undergraduate and postgraduate students, together with established software developers.

Speaking about the event, Mr Portelli said that competitions like CodeSprintMT are a “great opportunity for aspiring and experienced software developers, particularly young individuals wanting to enhance skills and test their abilities against peers”.

“In addition to being a great learning opportunity, CodeSprintMT also creates an environment where hundreds of young people can enjoy being part of a like-minded community,” he added.

“As a digital bank with ambitions to expand our WealthTech business further across Europe, it is exciting for us to see so many young people acquiring software development expertise and we are all very much looking forward to seeing some great projects emerge during the competition,” he concluded.

The main objective in all the competition categories within the event, including the open category, is to test participants’ problem solving, computational and programming skills. The challenge is an open book exercise, and the participants’ work is judged against a set of assessment criteria based on functionality and effectiveness. Contestants competing in the open category will have to overcome an eight-hour coding marathon.

The top three participants in CodeSprintMT will be rewarded with study programmes and mentorship opportunities, aimed at advancing their programming skills to a “world-class level”. They will also receive a cash prize as part of their well-deserved recognition.

The challenge is organised by the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sport, Research & Innovation together with ICE Malta.

Josmar Borg, Education Officer Computing within the Ministry and the coordinator of the competition, said: “To see organisations like MeDirect appreciating the value of a national coding championship and taking the decision to invest in this event is a great validation of all our efforts to raise the game when it comes to teaching and enhancing computing and software development skills in Malta.”

“As partners in Malta’s future economic progress, we are committed to making this year’s CodeSprintMT an even greater success,” he added.

The open category competition will take place on 15th July at ICE Malta’s premises, and will be followed by a VIVA session for the top five on 19th July and an awards ceremony on 22nd July whereby the top three winners across all competitions are announced.