{"id":41467,"date":"2025-08-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/uncover-ie\/?p=41467"},"modified":"2026-03-24T12:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T11:17:14","slug":"codex-competition-ie-tech-wizards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ie.edu\/uncover-ie\/codex-competition-ie-tech-wizards\/","title":{"rendered":"CodeX competition: IE tech wizards"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/span> 6<\/span> min read<\/span><\/span>\n

TechIE Day 2025 brought us the first edition of the CodeX competition, a fast-paced programming contest for bachelor’s and master’s students at IE School of Science & Technology. Hosted by Executive Vice Dean Dr. Rafif Srour, the three-round competition brought together top IE candidates, with the prize going to two of them: Ilia Artamonov<\/a> and Oskar K\u0142oczko<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We caught up with the winning pair to find out how IE School of Science & Technology is helping students learn beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the CodeX competition all about?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

CodeX was conceived to mirror the structured, high-impact sprints found in the tech industry. It challenged students to take to the stage\u2014literally\u2014and test their technical skills in front of classmates, faculty and industry guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The IE Tower auditorium transformed into a coding arena with house music, stage lights and tight time constraints for contestants.<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Round one began with a rapid-fire multiple-choice quiz on data structures, algorithms and computer science fundamentals. Round two split participants into teams, with the task of developing code for a Battleship-style logic game<\/strong>. Finally, round three saw a live head-to-head showdown between the top two teams, solving a challenge inspired by the World War II Enigma machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, it was a no-brainer to join the competition,” said Ilia. “It really encourages people to learn what you actually need to build things\u2014not just to understand how things work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meeting the winners of the CodeX competition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Oskar’s a student of the Bachelor in Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence<\/a>. Ilia’s studying the Bachelor in Data & Business Analytics<\/a>. And while neither knew much of the other before competing, they instantly clicked as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIlia was very direct and to the point,\u201d says Oskar. \u201cAs soon as he saw the task, he was already thinking how to implement it. That helped a lot\u2014we split the functions and supported each other when one of us got stuck.\u201d Ilia similarly felt the dynamic worked to their strengths: \u201cI\u2019m more of the idea guy. I have this problem where I come up with really nice systems and algorithms in my head, but I struggle to convert them into actual code. Oskar was really good at understanding what I was trying to say and then actually putting it into practice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I think it was a really useful experience\u2014especially the teamwork aspect,” says Oskar. <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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“In a real career, you\u2019ll have to work with all kinds of people and different deadlines. In class, you usually work with people you already know, so it\u2019s not the same. But this competition really tested how you find common ground quickly and collaborate under stress. There\u2019s no time for long discussions\u2014you just have to act and solve the problem together.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Ilia, this was typical of IE School of Science & Technology’s approach to collaboration: “At IE, it\u2019s natural to work together because everybody\u2019s so social and really good at communicating. That means we’re all good team-players\u2014especially Oskar, because he knows his stuff. So, in a way, I wouldn\u2019t say working in teams was a challenge.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Understanding the technical tools behind CodeX 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the Battleship round, contestants were tasked with implementing the core gameplay mechanics of the classic game from scratch. This involved building functions that could randomly place ships of various sizes onto a 2D grid without overlaps or boundary violations. \u201cYou have to watch for edge cases,” says Oskar. “Like if you randomly pick a row and column, the boat might not fit in the direction you want.\u201d This required conditional logic to check both orientation and position, ensuring each ship could legally occupy its assigned space. They also needed to implement collision detection to prevent ships from overlapping. And, of course, they created feedback systems to track hits, misses and when ships were completely sunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The challenge lay in writing the logic while designing an algorithm that accounted for all edge cases. <\/h3>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ilia explains that abstract reasoning is required for this kind of logic: \u201cYou have a sort of system\u2014like a \u2018what if\u2019 branching logic\u2014for whatever you might encounter.\u201d As such, students had to think architecturally, visualizing possible code paths and outcomes before writing their solutions. Even a seemingly simple decision, such as the order in which to check placement constraints, could impact the entire system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final challenge, the pair shifted gears to tackle a simplified version of the Enigma machine\u2019s logic\u2014a famous World War II encryption system. The task required them to map each letter of an input string to a corresponding encoded letter, based on a given static key. For Oskar, the real difficulty lay in the pressure. \u201cYou\u2019re on a stage, lights in your face, using a small laptop with someone you\u2019ve never worked with,\u201d he says. “All of that adds up. Even a simple task becomes very hard under those conditions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the constraints, Oskar and Ilia created a working solution using basic iteration and mapping techniques: \u201cWe just had to iterate through the given message and replace each character with its corresponding mapped letter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch a full stream of the competition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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