Winning Lockheed Martin's Codequest Competition!
On Saturday, my team and I took part in the Lockheed Martin CodeQuest competition. It was my first time participating, and after eagerly practicing together beforehand, I was extremely excited to see what the day would bring.
When we arrived, we first attended a talk from the Lockheed Martin team, who introduced us to the company and their impressive early careers programmes. After a short briefing about the competition format, the coding began.
The competition lasted two and a half hours, during which teams attempted to solve as many programming challenges as possible. I particularly enjoyed how each problem was framed within a real-world context, which made the challenges feel meaningful and exciting to tackle.
One of the most memorable moments happened in the final two minutes of the competition. The countdown had begun, and I noticed that another member of my team was extremely close to finishing one of the problems - there was just one last detail left: implementing a specific rounding method required by the task. After spotting this, I quickly implemented the rounding method, and the solution was ready to submit. As the countdown dropped below ten seconds, our hearts were pounding as we wondered whether we would manage to submit it in time. And in the very last second, we did!
That moment alone made the whole event worthwhile.
Feeling proud of how many points we had accumulated, we enjoyed lunch while waiting for the results. It was also great to talk with teams from other schools and meet other students and their backgrounds and ambitions.
Finally, the time came to announce the winners. As the placements were announced from the bottom up, we sat there with our fingers crossed. To our delight, our team of three was announced in first place.
It was a day filled with excitement, teamwork, and problem-solving, and I hope to take part in many more opportunities like this in the future. Thank you to the Lockheed Martin CodeQuest team for organising such an unforgettable experience.
