TAR University College Students Reign Supreme in eGenting Competition 2013

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College (‘TAR University College’) students, namely, Tong Sing Teik and Jackie Ng, demonstrated their IT prowess in solving programming problems in the recent eGenting Programming Competition 2013 which led them to clinch a historic victory for the University College.  Tong Sing Teik won the Champion prize and walked away with the prize money of RM6,000, while Jackie Ng who won the Merit award took home RM200 in cash.  The two students who are from the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Computing (‘FASC’) were up against 128 participants from 14 institutions of higher learning in the competition held on 6 November 2013.

The eGenting Programming Competition organised by eGenting Sdn Bhd was first held in 2002.  The competition provides a platform for students from institutions of higher learning to compete and take up the grueling challenge of solving four programming problems in a day for which the solution is to be hand-written using programming languages.    

In solving the programming problems, Sing Teik said that once he got the idea, he started at once to build it up in his imagination.  “I changed the code and made improvements.  Then, I compiled the code according to the language rules and executed the code in my mind before writing it down.  Yes, it was a challenge given the short amount of time.  Every second counts.” 

According to him, his background training on biochemistry and microelectronics had been beneficial as it had honed his analytical and problem-solving skills. Sing Teik holds an Advanced Diploma in Chemistry and Biology from TAR University College and is currently pursuing the Microelectronics with Automatic Control programme at TAR University College as well.  He thanked Ms Phea Lea Mai, the lecturer cum coordinator for the competition, for her guidance and briefing session.    

As for Jackie who is an Advanced Diploma in Science (Information Systems Engineering) student, his response on the competition was that it demanded a great deal of knowledge about data structures and algorithms as well as problem-solving skills.  Not only do students need to have good programming skills, they must also be able to think critically and coherently as the questions usually require one to write code in great detail.  He is happy that he had taken up the challenge and won a prize.

In addition to the win, Sing Teik was hired on the spot by eGenting Sdn Bhd during the prize presentation.    

Datuk Dr Tan Chik Heok, President of TAR University College, remarked:  “This achievement shows the quality of the education in TAR University College.  The students have had participated in the past and had won Distinction and Merit prizes in the competition but the win for 2013 competition is by far the best.  The education and training our students have received has enabled them to excel in the competition and be highly sought after by employers.