Abstract:

Bulgaria is known for her established traditions and successful participation in competitions in Informatics, organized for secondary school students. The extracurricular forms of training in Informatics provide an opportunity to develop students’ potentials in programming as a natural continuation of their interest in computer games. The paper presents the essence and specific features of competitive Informatics. An analysis is made of what personal qualities Information Technologies (IT) competitors should possess in order to develop their talent. The necessary knowledge and skills required qualifying for the top positions in the Olympiads and the programming competitions are analyzed. Described in the paper is the technology of conducting student competitions and the main difference with student programming competitions. In parallel are given the qualities which the good IT specialists (software engineers, developers etc.) have to possess in order to be successful in their career progress. The strengths and weaknesses of well-established IT practitioners when they start working with IT companies are looked into detail.

Keywords:

Education, Competitive Programming, Computer Science, Software Engineering.