Jamie McCloskey's Story

My first contact with the world of informatics was two years ago, when I was invited to attend the week-long training camp that is the beginning of preparation for the International Olympiad in Informatics. I had been teaching myself programming for several years before the December camp, but it was still very different than anything I had experienced before. I needed to learn a new programming language, and start thinking more about efficiency when I solved problems. The camp was great fun, I learned a lot, and enjoyed socializing with other like-minded people. The week culminated in a contest which was the first out of three used for selection of the IOI team.

Two more contests followed. These were run by our Australian counterparts, who kindly allow us to use their training site and participate in their national contests. I t was after these contests that I got the news that I was on the IOI team. I was over the moon about this, and began preparing for the big contest.
August rolled around, and we headed off to Egypt. The first thing that hit me when I got off the plane was the summer heat, which was quite different from winter in New Zealand! The second thing that nearly hit me were the cars -- Egypt's traffic system was crazy!

The following week was complete sensory overload for me. Seeing the local sights, interacting with the other teams and the Egyptians, and discussing informatics all combined to create an experience that I will never forget. The contest itself was somewhat of an eye-opener, and only scoring 25 out of a possible 600 made me determined to come back again and do better.

The Australians invited two people to attend their Canberra training camp, and the NZOI nominated me to go. This improved my informatics skills immensely, and broadened my horizons.

This year, I returned to the training camp. My previous experience helped me a lot, and I got on the high score lists for both of the Australian contests. This earned me a place on the team for the second time.