Student Cluster Competition
2018 Competition
Dallas, Texas
University of Warsaw / Warsaw University of Technology /
Lodz University of Technology / University of Wroclaw
Poland
Team Members:
- Adam Sobecki (Team Captain) - University of Warsaw
- Łukasz - University of Warsaw
- Dominik - Warsaw University of Technology
- Julia - University of Warsaw
- Maciej - University of Wroclaw
- Kamil -- University of Warsaw
- What is the name of your team and why did you choose it?
Our team name is Warsaw Team, which comes from the city where the team was born. It is kind of ironic—we have had team members from other major cities in Poland. But it's our name since the team formed, so we don't want to change it because of "backward compatibility".
- Why do you think your team will have an edge in the event (what's your secret sauce)?
We will have a unique network solution. It is a lot of risk because it is still in development (but will go public before the competition), so we didn't have as much time with it as we would like to. SCC is a great environment for hands-on experiments and we are ready for solving weird problems on the run - no risk, no reward.
- What have you done to prepare that makes your team unique?
We have had weekly team meetings. We divided in groups for each application and started the hard work. For the reproducibility challenge, we met with a geophysicist in order to gain domain knowledge. For Horovod, we contacted an expert on Deep Learning optimization from NVIDIA to get some tips. We hope all that combined with test-running the applications and immersing ourselves in the source code and wikis will result in a success.
- What are you most looking forward to in the competition?
Jetlagged, sleep-deprived debugging the strangest & most unforeseen errors in the last hours of the competition. All that while trusting each other's skills, focusing on the common goal and knowing that none of us could grasp all of the technicalities and novelties of each application. There aren't many opportunities to experience teamwork like on SCC.
- How long will it take you to get to Dallas?
We are starting in Warsaw, Poland, then we take a flight to Germany, then another one to someplace in America and onwards to Dallas after that. If we are lucky, it's going to take fourteen hours. If we're not, then it might be as bad thirty hours with a night at an airport... It still would be worth it!
- What do your team members do for fun?
Adam is rescue scuba diver and likes to explore underwater life. He is also into swimming and free diving. In general, he loves water in any kind. Sometimes he even drinks water! Regarding land activities, he climbs as well, runs and keeps himself fit by going to fitness clubs. And... he is also a party animal.
Dominik likes to tinker with everything—computer, electronics, mechanics, no difference. He also loves long car rides and disassembling everything that can be repaired or improved. If you see him with a screwdriver - you'd better keep him away from hardware!
Łukasz likes parties and spending time with his friends. In his free time he cycles and reads crime books. Besides supercomputing challenges, he also takes part in competitive programming contests (for fun).
Julia loves to meet with her friends playing board games. Besides that she's in love with climbing and recently got into analog photography. Watch out for the camera at the competition!
Maciej nowadays is mostly reading fantasy books. He also likes playing both tabletop and video strategy games (and is a really good chess player). Jakub loves to spend time in nature, among the polish landscapes. He takes a bike and goes on a long trip with his riding team. During winter, when it's too cold for bike, he meets with friends and plays board games.
- If your team had a theme song, what would it be?
Polish, programming related cover of song "Let it go" from Frozen. It's titled "I've got the code"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdWo5zbbGnY
The chorus goes:
I've got the code, I've got the code,
I'll compile it in a moment I've got the code, I've got the code,
It will be a hundred percent
It has a tremendous dose of positivity that each programmer needs sometimes.
- Can you share an interesting fact about your team?
Not all of our members study in the same city, so we have to do a lot of work remotely. It demands more organization from us, but it's all in hopes that one day another team forms in Wroclaw with one of our members as a mentor and we will not be the only SCC team in Poland.