Are you a tech savy programmer or data scientist in Belize looking for a new challenge? Do you feel that you have the skills to compete globally? If yes, then you should definitely visit http://www.kaggle.com/competitions

Through Kaggle, you can participate in real life competitions with significant payouts and a chance to compete globally for the big win! Kaggle is the leading platform for predictive modeling competitions which focus on analytics and data science. In order to join and compete on Kaggle, simply follow the three (3) steps indicated below:

1. Enter – Find a competition and download the training data. You don’t need new software / skills to submit
2. Build – Build a model using whatever methods you prefer and upload your predictions to Kaggle
3. …Win – Kaggle scores your solution in real time and you’ll see your place on the live leaderboard for your chance to win big!

An example of a recent competition involves Netflix, the online movie platform, ran a competition to develop a model to help them predict which movies customers would request on demand. They offered a prize of USD &1,000,000 to the best model developed.

In browsing the list of competitions, it is evident that the prize awards range amongst various sizes even those up to USD $25,000. Though these competitions are not easy having hundreds of data scientists and programmers participating, it is definitely a great way to provide you with exposure of real-time projects in the form of global competitions. Academia and private industries can leverage this opportunity to showcase Belizean talent. It is our hope that talented Belizeans can solve some of these real life issues globally.

BelizeINVEST, BELTRAIDE, remains committed to promoting investment opportunities in Offshore Outsourcing of which Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) is an area yet to be explored fully. Our team continues to encourage Belizeans nationally to compete and continue to challenge themselves in the areas of technology and I.T. service provision as we continue to leverage Belize’s nearshore advantage in the global outsourcing industry.