Hash Code is Google’s team-based programming competition. It gives you a platform to share your skills and connect with other coders around the globe as you work together to solve a problem like a real Google engineering challenge! Coders all over the world will tackle the first problem through the Qualification Round in small teams of two to four. This round is hosted online but the teams can come together virtually to compete side-by-side in locally coordinated Hash Code Hubs. The top teams from this round are invited to be a part of the virtual World Finals and get their fair chance at winning.
Registration Process: Once the registrations are open you can register at g.co/hashcode. You need to follow the below three steps to participate in google hash code competition:
- Create a new coding competitions profile or update your existing one.
- Register for hashCode specifically, and
- A shaded box at the top of the Schedulepage of their website will confirm your registration status. You can verify step 3 in the ”My Team” section that you are part of a valid 2 to 4 person team.
Guidelines:
- Participants may use the programming language of their choice.
- At least two (2) team members must meet the minimum age requirement (at least eighteen (18) years old) for a Team to participate in the World Finals
- Participants may use any editor of their choice, including those made available online, as long as the code is not accessible to others.
- Participants must not ask or receive help from anyone outside their team and will be disqualified from the HC contest if they do so.
- Participants may ask the jury about any confusion regarding the problem statement by sending an email to hashcode@google.com.
- Participants must submit original code. Every code submission must include a file (typically, a ZIP archive) containing the source code of the program.
- Teams will be needed to use the competition platform to submit their solutions for each round.
- The language used by the Hash Code team for communication will be English and each round’s problem statement will be in English too.
Google Hash Code Rounds
Practice Round: Here you’ll form your team, join a Hub, and practice.
- Timing: It start in the month of January normally.
- Duration: You will have 48 days to practice.
Online Qualifications: In this round you’ll watch a YouTube livestream to be introduced to an optimization problem. Teams will have four hours to solve it.
- Timing: After practice session you will be informed to participate in qualification round.
- Duration: 4 hrs
- For the Qualification Round, your team can participate from anywhere all you need is a computer and an internet connection.
- You can participate with a virtual Hub. Hubs are groups of Hash Code teams that are affiliated with a university, office, or organization.
- Joining a Hub is the participant’s decision to make, but it is a great way to connect with your peers and enhance your coding skills.
World Finals:
- Timing: If you qualify then you will be informed before 30 days to participate in the World Finals.
- Duration: 4 hrs
- During the World Finals, your team will be asked to solve a challenge using your computer equipment and materials.
- The jury will select between thirty and fifty of the highest-scoring teams, i.e. about 150 finalists, to advance to the World Finals.
- The structure of the World Finals will be shared with the teams 30 days prior to the competition.
Judgment Criteria:
- The jury evaluates each submission by manual inspection or by using the automated scoring function of the competition platform.
- The score of a team’s best submission from a round will be considered as the final score of the team for that round.
- The jury may check the code for its originality based on a review of the code alone and/or comparison against other code submissions.
Rewards:
| Position | Reward |
|---|---|
| 1st | USD 4,000 (To every team member) |
| 2nd | USD 2,000 (To every team member) |
| 3rd | USD 1,000 (To every team member) |
Goodies: Google may occasionally, give away Google goodies to World Finals participants as a token of participation in the Hash Code contest.
Certificates: A downloadable and printable certificate will be provided to all members of teams that submit a solution scoring at least one (1) point during either the Qualification Round or World Finals. It will be accessible from their Contest Profile approximately a month after each round’s completion.