Iron Coder 2014: Three Georgia Tech Students Win Cash and Job Interviews with Top Atlanta Technology Company, Cardlytics

Photo: Cardlytics’ VP of Application Development Michael Lapid presents a check to Zhiyuan Lin, winner of the Cardlytics Iron Coder Software Engineering Competition at Georgia Tech.

Cardlytics (www.cardlytics.com), an Atlanta-based Ad Tech company and the pioneer in Card-Linked Marketing, recently tapped into Atlanta’s high tech talent pool in a unique and innovative way. The fast-growing company held its third Cardlytics Iron Coder Software Engineering Competition at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Zhiyuan Lin, a Georgia Tech computer software engineering major, won first place and took home a cash prize of $2,000. Lin and the second and third place winners also secured job interviews with Cardlytics.

Albert Shaw, a Georgia Tech sophomore from Johns Creek, came in second and won $1,000. Shaw has placed first and second in the previous two Iron Coder competitions.

Surenkumar Nihalni, a Georgia Tech graduate student from Mumbai, India, came in third. Nihalni placed third in the March 2014 Iron Coder competition.

The three-hour competition took place September 27th on the Georgia Tech campus, with about 35 participants from three local universities: Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State University and Georgia Gwinnett College. The challenge was a closely guarded secret until the competition began. Competitors were asked to complete ten, highly complex math problems. The winners were chosen based on how accurately they answered the question, with speed of completion breaking any ties.

“As Cardlytics grows our team here in Atlanta, it’s vital to add the right people with the right skills. Georgia Tech and other local area universities have great computer science programs and talent,” says Michael Lapid, VP of Application Development at Cardlytics. “Students who graduate from these schools are prepared to hit the ground running at Cardlytics from day one. This is our third Iron Coder challenge and it has proven to be a fantastic talent outreach and recruiting tool. It’s also a great way for us to find and keep top tech talent in Atlanta.”

Cardlytics is always on the lookout for high–level technology professionals, including software engineers, project managers, analysts and developers. A full list of current openings is available at http://cardlytics.com/careers/.