e-Builder, the leading provider of cloud-based construction program management software, announced that 16-year-old Alejandro Lucena is the winner of their Code-a-Thon. Lucena is a student at CypressBayHigh School in Weston.
e-Builder President and CEO, Ron Antevy, awarded Lucena the grand prize of $2,500.
“Alejandro was the youngest person to enter the code-a-thon and performed 33% better than the other contestants,” Antevy said. “It’s incredible to see such young talent in South Florida. He has a very bright future ahead of him.”
The contest was open to both professional and student programmers and included a number of creative code challenges and programming puzzles. Lucena answered the most problems correctly in the shortest amount of time.
“The challenges were a mix-- Some were pretty straightforward and others were really hard. I just did my best and hoped for the best outcome,” Lucena said.
The teenager began learning how to code in sixth grade. He said it began when he started watching coding videos on the computer and taking online tutorials. “I’m completely self-taught,” Lucena said. “I do it because it’s what I’m passionate about and I want to do it forever.”
He is enrolled in AP Computer Science at CypressBayHigh School and plans to get a computer science degree when he heads to college in 2016. Lucena said he has no idea yet what he plans to do with the money.
The Code-a-Thon took place on June 11 at e-Builder Headquarters in Plantation. The 15 participants began the challenge at 1:00 p.m. and had until 6:00 p.m. to finish. The winner was announced at the e-Builder Open House event on Thursday night.
e-Builder created a unique software that streamlines the work of managing large construction projects for facility owners, saving their clients both time and money. The e-Builder technology helps government agencies, healthcare and educational institutions manage billions of dollars in capital improvement.
The company has grown more than 40 percent each year for the past several years and is looking to hire 20 new employees immediately.
SHOWN IN PHOTO ABOVE: e-Builder CEO Ron Antevy, code-a-thon winner Alejandro Lucena, e-Builder co-founder Jon Antevy.
e-Builder provided this report on its event.
Posted; June 13, 2014