DNA

Lahore, JAN 13: Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), held a two-day technology event in collaboration with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers bracket (IEEE) Society, titled CodinGuru 5.0. in partnership with S&P Global Pakistan. This competition aimed to improve the tech quotient of the students and encourage ambitious and skilled coders to enhance their abilities.

Senior Director Commercial S&P Global, Shafqaat H. Shah, addressed the audience and said, “At S&P Global, we not only deploy cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), virtual reality (VR), data science, and analytics in our products to power the markets of the future, but we do so while being inclusive and equitable towards our people, clients, and the communities we operate in. Together, we can accelerate progress in the world.”

The competition was planned across 3 segments: Programming, UI/UX, and WebApp Module. The participating teams developed innovative solutions for daily usage like delivery applications, climate change actions, and energy-saving appliances through different programming languages like C++, Java, and Python.

To further highlight the correlation of ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ (DEI) with innovation and creativity, a panel discussion was held focusing on the significance of inclusion in workplaces. Moderated by Campus Recruiter S&P Global, Hiba Khalid, it included Senior Director Commercial S&P Global, Shafqaat H. Shah, Director People S&P Global, Samia Qamar, and Founder Skills Todo, Ayesha Zaman. “A thriving, inventive workplace must aim to represent the society that it functions in. Coding skills are intrinsic to progress and S&P Global ensures the development of skills by incorporating the diversity of backgrounds, and more importantly, different perspectives, which result in more creative solutions for the problems” stated Director People S&P Global, Samia Qamar.

The top three places were secured by FAST Karachi as the winner of the Programming Contest, LUMS students for the UI/UX module, and COMSATS Lahore for the WebDEV module.

LUMS has been organizing this mega-coding competition since 2018. This year, a total of 70 teams from different universities, mainly Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Punjab University College of Information Technology, FAST National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, University of Engineering and Technology, Information Technology University, COMSATS, and Government College University Lahore participated in the event. The participants were given 24 hours to design a creative IT solution and customer-friendly interface for a contemporary real-world problem aligned with the given theme.