ABOUT
Kick Start is a global online coding competition, consisting of three-hour rounds of a variety of algorithmic challenges designed by Google engineers. Participants can compete in one or all online rounds held throughout the year, and will have the opportunity to develop and grow their programming abilities while getting a glimpse into the technical skills needed for a career at Google (top participants may be invited to interview at Google).
Kick Start offers coders around the world the chance to develop and hone their programming skills through online-hosted competition rounds. The three-hour rounds feature a variety of algorithmic challenges, all developed by Google engineers so that you get a taste of the technical skills needed for a career at Google (the top competitors from our Kick Start rounds may be invited to interview at Google!). Our rounds are held regularly throughout the year at different times so they are easily accessible to coders everywhere. Each Kick Start Round is open to all participants, no pre-qualification needed, so you can try your hand at one or give them all a shot.
Register for Kick Start once on our website and you’ll be set up to compete in any round you’d like! When each round is open, the three hour countdown begins and you’ll compete on our website solving algorithmic and mathematical problems. Following the round, you can check out your rankings and the round analysis. If you were a top competitor, you may be contacted by Google for a chance to interview.
DEADLINE
Ready to compete? Registration is now open until Nov 15 2020, 06:00 (UTC)
Eligibility
You understand and acknowledge the age requirements specified in the Terms. You understand and acknowledge that you must be at least the Minimum Age (as defined in the Terms) at the time of registration to be eligible to participate in the KS Contest. However, you must be eighteen (18) years of age or older at the time of registration to be eligible to be contacted by a Google recruiter.
Registration
Registration remains open throughout the KS Contest, but you must register before being able to participate in a Round of the KS Contest. Registration for the KS Contest will open on or around Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 16:00 UTC and end on or around Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 06:00 UTC.
Contest Structure
The KS Contest consists of multiple rounds (each, a “Round”, and collectively, “Rounds”) which will take place online. The KS Contest may have one (1) or more practice sessions as described in Section 3.5 of the Terms. The KS Contest has eight (8) Rounds, Round A - H, starting on Sunday, March 22, 2020 at 04:00 UTC, and ending on Sunday, November 15, 2020 at 06:00 UTC. The dates and times of the Rounds mentioned in the KS Rules are subject to change by Google in accordance with the Terms and will be updated on the KS Contest website at https://codingcompetitions.withgoogle.com/kickstart/schedule.
3.1 Kick Start Rounds. You can participate in any and all Rounds of your choice regardless of performance or participation in any prior Rounds. Please see our schedule for when the KS Contest Rounds occur in 2020. To participate in each Round, you must log in to the KS Contest website to attempt to solve a number of problems within the stated time period.
Problems
Editor and Programming Language.
(A) Editors. You may use any editor or development environment, including those made available online, as long as your code is not accessible to others.
(B) Programming Language. To solve a problem or any test set within a problem for Kick Start, you may use any programming language(s) available on the KS Contest website. It is your responsibility to check the FAQ for information on the currently available versions and configurations for each language.
4.2 Submitting Solutions for Kick Start Problems.
(A) Submission Requirements. For Kick Start problems, you must submit the source code for your solution through the KS Contest website. You must indicate the programming language of your file by using the provided dropdown menu.
Your source code must be a single file that is able to run, as is, on our servers. The size of your source code may not exceed 100KB.
(B) Time, Memory, and Other Resource Limits. A problem or test set may specify time, memory, or other resource limitations. It is solely your responsibility to note any and all resource limitations provided in the problems or test sets.
(C) Submission Limits. The system may reject submissions if you make too many within a short window of time. The dashboard will display a warning if you are approaching this limit.
(D) Pre-existing Code. In your submissions for a Round, you may use code that existed before the start of that Round as long as you wrote it or you are licensed to use it.
4.3 Judging and Scoring. The solutions you submit will be judged as follows:
(A) Visible Verdict Test Sets. Each problem contains one (1) or more Visible Verdict Test Sets. "Visible Verdict Test Sets" are test sets for which the outcome of judging will be reported immediately after the submission during a Round.
(B) Judgment Of Test Sets. Your submission will be judged against each test set in order—sample (if applicable), then test set 1, test set 2, etc. If your submission passes a test set, it will be run on the next test set (if any), and so on; if your submission fails a test set, it will not be run on any subsequent test sets.
(C) Points on Visible Verdict Test Sets. For each problem, all submissions can receive points for the Visible Verdict Test Sets solved.
(D) Primary Submission. The primary submission for each problem is the submission with the largest sum of the values of all passed test sets on that problem (the submission’s score), breaking ties by selecting the one with the earliest submission time.
If no submission received points for a problem, then there is no primary submission for that problem and you receive a score of zero (0) for that problem.
(E) Scoring. Your score for each Round is the sum of the points earned for primary submissions on problems in that Round.
(F) Penalty Attempts. You will incur one penalty attempt for each submission to a problem that passes the sample until you submit your primary submission for that problem. If there is no primary submission for a problem, you incur no penalty attempts for that problem.
(G) Penalty Time. If you score at least one (1) point in the Round, your penalty time for the Round will be equal to the time it takes you to submit the most recent of all primary submissions (across all problems) measured from the start of the Round, plus four (4) minutes for each penalty attempt across all problems during the Round.
(H) Rank. If you score at least one (1) point in the Round, you will have a rank for that round, which will be determined by your score and your penalty time.
Contestants will be ranked in order of highest score first and lowest score last, breaking ties by lowest penalty time first and highest penalty time last. We reserve the right to break ties when necessary based on finer time precision than is specified on the scoreboard.
Contestants who score a total of zero (0) points in a Round are not considered as having a rank.
Disqualification
You may be disqualified from the KS Contest if Google reasonably believes that you have attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the KS Contest according to the Terms. You may report violation of these Terms by another contestant to kickstart@google.com.
5.1 Practice Round(s). You will not be disqualified in a practice round of the KS Contest for using or sharing information about problems.
Potential Contact from Google Recruiters
The KS Contest offers participants the chance to develop and hone their programming and technical skills through online-hosted competition rounds.
6.1 If at the time of registration you affirmatively express interest in future job opportunities at Google, you may be contacted by a Google recruiter and invited to apply for a position at Google after completion of the KS Contest. If Google contacts any participants, they will be determined in Google’s sole discretion. Your scores during the KS Contest will have an impact on whether you are contacted by a Google recruiter. Google reserves the right to adjust the eligibility requirements based on the number of participants in the KS Contest. There will be no notification of such adjustments. You understand that no interviews are promised or guaranteed under the KS Contest.
6.2 If you are offered an interview at Google, you may be responsible for all travel and costs related to attending an interview unless agreed otherwise by Google in writing. You understand and agree that an offer of an interview may not be construed as an offer or contract of employment with Google.
6.3 Higher Education Institutions in India. If your higher education institution is in India, we may also notify the relevant department, college management, or placement cell of that institution when you are offered an interview and if you are successfully offered employment with Google.
More Details can be found on the Kickstart Website
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