HackerEarth, a Bengaluru-based online platform for programmers, has spread its wings to Kenya, Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela to create a global community of coders on its platform.“Most of the programming community comes from India, US and Europe. We have decided to tap into lesser known markets for coders like Brazil or a Mexico,” said Sachin Gupta, co-founder of HackerEarth.
The four-year-old organisation lets software developers practise and compete with one another by conducting programming challenges and giving away gifts, while companies can source and recruit developers from the platform.
It has 120 employees with branches in Delhi and Pune along with 1,000-plus customer in India, the US and Europe.
HackerEarth has tied up with NGOs, colleges and even government agencies to conduct hackathons.
The startup hopes that their contests will help coders from diverse backgrounds come together to create new platforms to solve social issues. “We tied up with NGOs like Laboratoria Peru and Include Girls of Puerto Rico to promote women developers from every strata of the society,” said Gupta who is also the CEO of the firm.
He said many socio political conditions, unstable governments, and women empowerment issues have prompted people in the age group of 18 to 28 to participate in such hackathons. “The ecosystem of some of these countries is not politically stable and so far, developers have been limited in getting chances. I am hoping with our platform we can bring more people to the programming community,” Gupta said.
In Brazil, HackerEarth has more than 5,000 active users and has partnered with URI University to conduct Collegiate Cup contest between April and May. The competition will churn out the best programming minds in the country, Gupta said.
In Africa, the firm has tied up with FUTA of Nigeria and Egerton of Kenya, two leading schools in computer science working on IoT (internet of things), algorithms and mobility. “They conducted three programming challenges through our two campus ambassadors. We have had more than 100 students participate in these challenges,” Gupta said.
Gupta and his team launched a hackathon in the industrial city of Monterrey in Mexico and saw more than 150 plus developers take part. They have also partnered with three universities in Mexico – Nuevo Leon, Cancun and Monterrey – to conduct programming challenges.
In Bolivia, the firm has partnered with Bolivia Tech Hub to provide access to a small but a fast growing community of programmers.
HackerEarth, which started spreading into these Latin American and African countries five months ago, so far has around 40,000 developers from these places in its community.
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