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Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world championship
- dgrin91 3y agoI wish they would explain more about what the actual tasks are. They basically jus said 'you get data and you do calculations'. Well thanks, thats basically all excel. A link to the problem set would be interesting. Real time data from Eve is pretty cool, but whats the actual results they are trying to get? How do they do scoring?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- codetrotter 3y agoI have a feeling that these sorts of questions will be answered if we look at the actual video from the finals. https://www.youtube.com/live/UDGdPE_C9u8 https://www.youtube.com/live/UDGdPE_C9u8
- Tyr42 3y ago13 minutes in.
- lIl-IIIl 3y agoThe puzzle description begins at 1:18:44. But it doesn't feel like it's a complete description of the puzzle, just the data format. Do the competitors have a list of questions?
- itishappy 3y agoIndeed they do get lists of questions (including bonus ones)! The puzzle description at 13 minutes explains a bit more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8&t=811s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8&t=811s
- TOMDM 3y agoThere are some sample cases on the Financiaal Modelling World Cup website. https://fmworldcup.com/sample-cases/ https://fmworldcup.com/sample-cases/
- Tao3300 3y agoThat's probably above the Guardian's heads. I don't mean that as a diss, just that that level of technicality isn't their thing.
- BLKNSLVR 3y agoDirect excerpt that gives an idea of the task(s): "With entertainment in mind, the organisers shortened rounds to 30 minutes and livened up the cases. For example, Ngai had to calculate the market value of a fleet of spaceships using real data from the video game Eve Online – with the action televised live on ESPN."
- peetabix 3y agoI think 'People make games' did a video on it on YouTube.
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- aregreabn 3y ago[flagged]
- rmccue 3y agoHe’s Australian.
- aregreabn 3y ago[flagged]
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- manav 3y agoChinese-Australian. Nearly 20% of AU is Asian.
- ganeshkrishnan 3y agoThe Australian math team for any year is going to blow your mind https://threesides.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022_EGMO_team_names.jpg https://threesides.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2022_EG...
- throwup238 3y agoI was not expecting a sweet photo of a beaming actuary when opening an article about someone nicknamed the “Annihilator.” That Excel championship wrestling belt is really cool though.
- lianna-vba 3y agoThe prizes are really cool. The winner of the sister competition (more finance focused) gets a large 'diamond' encrusted ring. I encourage anyone who enjoys problem solving and Excel to sign up for the upcoming 2024 competition. Who knows, maybe you'll get flown out to Las Vegas to compete in the finals next year? https://fmworldcup.com/product-category/battles/ https://fmworldcup.com/product-category/battles/
- resolutebat 3y agoIt's not a novel observation that in the online world, the people with the most badass handles tend to the most harmless in real life. In Ngai's favor, though, apparently somebody else came up with his moniker.
- wyclif 3y agoOther than becoming an actuary, how do these people become Excel gurus? What Excel books do they read?
- 29athrowaway 3y agoI never thought I was going to see an Excel world tournament with commentators, etc. That is, Excel as an e-sport.
- cglong 3y agoI actually watched this live at a sports bar airing ESPN-U. It was a surreal experience haha
- tkzed49 3y agoPersonally I'm a fan of MAKRO, I think his commentary on the meta is very insightful. https://youtu.be/xubbVvKbUfY https://youtu.be/xubbVvKbUfY
- resolutebat 3y ago"What's up sheetheads!" Looking forward to the Annihilator crushing next year's Ballmercon, at least if MS gets their fucking shit together and fixes the Chinese key bindings.
- scrlk 3y agoDid the pro scene ever get over the introduction of XLOOKUP overturning years of established meta? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp2-EUKQAI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp2-EUKQAI
- blitzar 3y agoI cant believe they nerfed VLOOKUP like that.
- mongol 3y agoHe was the one who introduced me to the pro scene.
- ta8645 3y agoJudging from the other replies, this is a real thing. But I was convinced it was a parody comedy video after watching it myself.
- orthoxerox 3y agoNo, it's a comedy video, but life imitates art.
- resolutebat 3y agoCongratulations, you are one of today's lucky 10,000 [1] to discover Krazam. Start with Microservices: https://youtu.be/y8OnoxKotPQ?feature=shared https://youtu.be/y8OnoxKotPQ?feature=shared [1] https://xkcd.com/1053/ https://xkcd.com/1053/
- manav 3y agoExcellent.
- putna 3y ago[flagged]
- marcod 3y ago> But the last word goes to Brandon Moyer, who was eliminated in the final. In his post-game interview, the US competitor thanked his wife, who “never made fun of me, even once, for competing in the Microsoft Excel world championship”.
- blitzar 3y ago* to his face
- bryancoxwell 3y agoAw.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- splatzone 3y agoThat brought a tear to my eye. What a beautiful example of love
- xyst 3y ago“…spreadsheet world championship” There’s a competition for everything now. What’s next? Most Compelling Deck Championship? edit; I’m convinced this is a just a massive MS excel advertisement. Smh
- gU9x3u8XmQNG 3y agoMuch support, especially if it is run by kiwi’s.
- Loughla 3y agoIt can be both. It can be a fun competition and an advertisement for excel. People go nuts over how many times a group of people can kick a ball into a net, why not spreadsheets?
- constantly 3y ago> Most Compelling Deck Championship? Usually people try to avoid deck measuring contests.
- boomboomsubban 3y ago>edit; I’m convinced this is a just a massive MS excel advertisement. Smh If Microsoft was behind this, why would they hide their involvement? And if they were, why would that change anything about it?
- iancmceachern 3y agoAren't moat sporting events just one massive advertisement?
- acomjean 3y agoIt might be a MS pr move. But it seems a lot of competitions are for boosting an industry. The Oscar's celebrate movies, he Grammys promote music, "the game awards" promote games. I imagine a fornite competetion would be sponsored by epic.
- onion2k 3y agoMost Compelling Deck Championship? Not quite the same but I've attended a few barcamp conferences that have had "PowerPoint kareoke" competitions - the goal is to present a random deck from SlideShare that you haven't seen before, and the most entertaining (by judges or by the crowd) wins. It's very funny.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago> with the action televised live on ESPN. That’s what happens where there are more TV minutes than sports minutes.
- boomboomsubban 3y agoAs someone who steamed a bit of kabaddi last weekend, we are nowhere near that point.
- PrimeMcFly 3y agoWell that's weird. Moreso that it was televised by ESPN and had an audience on the edge of their seats.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kazinator 3y agoOK, let's have a show of hands. How many of you would trade your software dev / coding skills for that title?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mynameisnoone 3y agoOnly if it was accomplished with SuperCalc.
- hexane360 3y agoHere's a great video about these Excel competitions: https://youtu.be/N2QC6VQXo8U https://youtu.be/N2QC6VQXo8U
- deebosong 3y agoMake it into an e-sports competition. But rather than try to hype it up like fighting game tournaments, have it be somewhat milder in aesthetics and tone, for the type of crowd it might draw. Like "Best in Show" or "Great British Bake Off" or what have you.
- ozim 3y agoExactly I feel that belt - albeit funny - is more cringey than whatever else they could come up with. Then I say dynamic commentary is still something you want - but talkative host asking a guy that is going to drop underground in seconds is not bes use of watch time
- brendamn 3y ago> He says he is “not bad” at maths – by which he means he came top in the state of New South Wales in his year 12 maths exams As an Australian that has worked with American companies for a while, this is a behaviour I’ve had to overcome. If you tell an Australian you’re “not bad” at something then they’ll take that to mean that you’re actually quite good, whereas many Americans will understand it to mean that you’re not good.
- Grimburger 3y agoUnderstatement is a cultural thing to the point that chatbots have to be retrained to understand it: https://www.itnews.com.au/news/agl-trains-its-chatbot-alfie-to-comprehend-aussie-understatement-520435 https://www.itnews.com.au/news/agl-trains-its-chatbot-alfie-...
- doesnt_know 3y agoI'm sure you're aware, but thought I'd drop this for our American friends. Australia and New Zealand (where I'm from) share Tall poppy syndrome[1] and going by that Wikipedia page, there are various over countries that have a similar concept. Being overly self-congratulatory comes across as this sort of grotesque and unattractive quality. It is even true in the corporate environments I've worked at where you would normally otherwise expect it. Kiwis don't like it and I've seen many foreigners, especially the few Americans that have come over into management roles completely flounder and have almost everyone hate them because of it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome
- Waterluvian 3y agoInteresting! In Canada being modest is quite important… unless it’s a job interview (whether explicit or implicit), in which case it’s the “one time you should really brag about what you’re good at.”
- gerdesj 3y agoWe have a similar concept in the UK too. However, I have never heard of tall poppy syndrome.
- throwawaysugar 3y agoLink to the finals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8
- sundvor 3y agoEve Online (aka spreadsheets in space) players past and present might enjoy the reference that was made in the article. Was it an in-joke? "For example, Ngai had to calculate the market value of a fleet of spaceships using real data from the video game Eve Online – with the action televised live on ESPN."
- ozim 3y agoNo, Eve Online was one of the sponsors. Surprisingly pro level gamers use spreadsheets more than one would expect from „gaming”. Final round was really about calculating stuff based on game economy. Challenge was created by top game guy. Which in some ways was surprising for finance guys.
- sundvor 3y agoAhh, that's pretty cool - thanks for that info! I played Eve for a good while (more than a decade) and the complexities was one of the appealing aspects, but unfortunately at one point the time between my sessions increased more and more, and I fell behind the learning and time curve, and dropped out.
- fbdab103 3y agoDo they publish the questions/data anywhere? Would love to have an informal competition among similarly minded friends. Of course, I would try to do it in Pandas and get crushed.
- tacon 3y agoI just heard of this Excel competition, but Modeloff world championship has been going for somewhat longer. It tests Excel skills plus financial modeling skills. They have all the old questions available for study: https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/financial-modeling/modeloff-guide/ https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/financial-mo...
- emeril 3y agosome friends of mine tried to convince me to compete in this though one should only go after these things for fun instead of any real expectation of money i.e., I actually went through some historical modeloff questions years ago and could get them relatively easily but spending the same effort training but at my job/career is a way to make more money, on an expected value basis, than competing in any excel competition...
- arnaudsm 3y agoI'd be very interested in watching traditional competitive programmers tackling these challenges. Can they beat low-code excel ?
- codeulike 3y agoThis is the 3 hour video of the final apparently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8 The bit where Andrew Ngai's scores dont correctly update seems to be at about 24:00 Hope someone can make a highlights reel or something?
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y agoIt does seem fitting that an actuary would win this considering how much of their work day and job description revolves around Excel and what it can do
- neontomo 3y agoIf you like nerdy championships like these, also check out: Classic Tetris World Championships - https://www.youtube.com/@ClassicTetris https://www.youtube.com/@ClassicTetris Webflow Speed Build Challenge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9regpz3xvrs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9regpz3xvrs
- barbazoo 3y agoI wonder if I’ll ever find another type of software that makes me as happy as spreadsheets, whatever implementation really, Excel, Google sheets, …. Perhaps not the Apple one actually.