UW student wins at coding

Sun., Nov. 4, 2007

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

SEATTLE – A University of Washington computer science major won his division of an international contest aimed at finding the best coder.

Michael Skinner, 22, brought home $15,000 from the 2007 TopCoder Collegiate Competition in Florida this past week.

He finished eighth among eight finalists for writing about 350 lines of code during eight hours.

Skinner, who has lined up a job at Google beginning next fall, said he plans to use the prize money to buy a new road bike and an Xbox 360 game console.

He also plans to take his friends and family out to dinner.

“At least for this month, I’m the one with the biggest income,” he said.

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