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Competition Fosters Next Generation Of Linux Talent

Posted by michael on from the script-kiddies dept.

gollum123 writes "Yahoo reports that about 3,000 students from 75 countries registered for the 2004 IBM Linux Scholar Challenge before registration closed Oct. 31, the largest turnout in the competition's history. This year's winners will be revealed in January at LinuxWorld in Boston. Each entry consists of a 1,200-word essay that can describe the solution to one of 29 Linux-related challenges IBM poses as part of the competition. Entrants, who must be enrolled full time at an accredited university, aren't limited to these challenges and can suggest and solve their own problems. The IBM-provided challenges include asking entrants to identify deficiencies in Linux and propose solutions, describe how to build a high-availability application that would provide failover capability across multiple IBM servers, and improve boot time on a Linux-based IBM ThinkPad."

9 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Requirements are lame by superpulpsicle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "full time at an accredited university"

    That's just wrong. Some of the best programmers and computer folks I ever met, didn't even go to colleges.

    1. Re:Requirements are lame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ... and that's just wrong for so many reasons. You learn so much more at college where you're taught and learn from others about alternatives, formal methodology, etc. The days of high school IT men/women making any significant money is rapidly disappearing.

    2. Re:Requirements are lame by zurab · · Score: 3, Insightful
      If you don't go to school, you don't need a scollarship.

      Unless you can't go to college because you cannot afford it, or you were forced to drop out for financial reasons - then scholarship would be a lot of help.
  2. Re:Cheap labor? by spisska · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They already have a system to get students to work for free -- its called internship, and there's plenty of students willing not only to work for free, but to pay their respective institutions for the privilege (and the course credit).

    On the other hand, this is an excellent way for IBM to do some university recruiting without having to pore over thousands of resumes.

  3. Re:Cheap labor? by automatix · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Hmm, Students don't tend to end up doing "work for free" - there are more mistakes, less documentation, less understanding and experience of security, portability, and less foresight for future possibilities/developments [in general!]. All this requires other people to review it, document it, approve it, modify it. While maybe not costing as much as for a professional to do it, it certainly isn't free.

    Rob :)

  4. Patent question by debrain · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not all the hard questions in Linux's future are technical.

    To IBM challengees/anyone:

    How would you reconcile the need for innovation in Linux and the growing number of patents owned by a smaller and smaller group of large corporations, where these patents undermine the capacity to innovate?

    IBM, being the largest patent filer in the United States, probably has a unique perspective on this. Though I am grateful for their support of, and happy for their benefit from, Linux, I must concede that I wonder what will happen when their patent interests conflict with their Linux interests.

  5. Re:High School Students? by Stevyn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When I was in high school, I also felt I knew a lot about computers. Now I realize I knew shit. I still believe I still know shit, just a lot more shit than I used to.

    One of the main reasons for college is to teach you how to learn. High school won't do that, so they make college a requirement because you'll keep building on that.

    I'm not saying college is required or you won't do well if you don't go to college. Certainly not, but there are benefits to college besides what your teacher tests you on.

  6. Bummer ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As one who met all the eligibility requirements for this competition, I think it would have been nice to have found out about it before the deadline... Maybe next year /. can run an article on it before the fact.

  7. Students by hkht · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The best way to get young people really intrested in linux is to have games which work hands down better on the linux platform.