Gennady Korotkevich - Programming Prodigy

Gennady Korotkevich is one person that is considered a genius. Earlier on in his life, Gennady has been involved in several competitions, which he has excelled in. Nonetheless, most of his success can be traced back to the type of upbringing he had.

Early on in Life

In September 1994, Gennady was born in the city of Gomel within Belarus. His parents – Vladimir and Lyudmila – are top professors and programmers within Francysk Skaryna Homiel State University at the Department of Mathematics. Therefore, it is clear from his background, Gennady Korotkevich was destined for greatness.

The nature of Vladimir and Lyudmila's jobs sparked Gennady's interest. When he turned 6, Gennady quickly became fascinated by what his parents did. This interest prompted his father to design a game specifically for his son to learn how to program. Gennady took to it and mastered the program.

After seeing Gennady’s determination and brilliance, Lyudmila spoke to a colleague about her son’s programming prowess. The colleague – named Mikhail Dolinsky – had authored an excellent small book that was ideal for Gennady. So, Mikhail gave the book to be given to Gennady as a guide. This book completely changed Gennady's life and positioned him as a programming prodigy.

Programming Progress

Early on at the tender age of 11, Gennady began competing in both national and international programming competitions. His first taste of recognition came when he got into the International Olympiad in Informatics, which was a world for a kid of his age. In his first competition, Gennady grabbed a silver medal for his effort, which was huge for a first-timer and a kid.

Soon after, Gennady began to dominate the competition. He won a record-breaking six straight gold medals from 2007 to 2012, which made him the most decorated participant at the International Olympiad in Informatics. As stated by Gennady himself, he never spent hours learning to program. Rather, he had started earlier than others. Therefore, Gennady was able to devote only about four hours practicing programming and spent more time playing tennis and football.

Gennady's success in the national competition when he was in second grade helped him to get direct admission into ITMO University in Russia. While in the university, Gennady also shined by helping his school win competitions. In 2013, Gennady was instrumental in ITMO's at the International Collegiate Programming Content Finals, where they defeated the University of Tokyo and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. This achievement further solidified Gennady's position as a programming genius.

After this competition, Gennady went solo and participated in the Google Code Jam Competition. Gennady won the competition four consecutive times between 2014 to 2017.

Career Path

Despite his success, Gennady had everything figured out about his career. Although he had received several job offers from Yandex and Google, Gennady had not taken any. Rather, he was focused on getting more education. After getting a master’s degree from ITMO, Gennady quickly enrolled as a Ph.D. student in the same university.

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