Best International Startup at TC50: Trollim
by Ayelet Noff on September 16, 2009 at 7:09 am
Trollim was chosen by TechCrunch as the Best International Startup at TC50 yesterday — well done!
Trollim is a competition platform for programmers unlike any other you’ve encountered before. Trollim assesses the coding level and performance skill set of programmers via one to one or one to many coding “battles” no matter where they are in the world. Think of Eminem’s rap battles in the movie 8 mile — but this time not for rappers but for programmers.
(Disclosure: Trollim is a client of Blonde 2.0 and Blonde 2.0 is proud to introduce the world to this new amazing platform.)
Once a programmer registers on Trollim, he must take a personalized skill test. Once that test is finished, he is allowed to compete in Battles with other programmers. Now he is ready to take his first coding test. Trollim’s testing engine will examine the details the programmer submitted and will show him a piece of broken code related to his skill set. The challenge is to fix the code in the fastest and most efficient manner possible without the use of programming shortcuts. His performance is rated not only against his challenger but other programmers who share a similar skill set.
Companies are able to sponsor the Battles and receive detailed statistics on the programmers and their level of skill. Enterprises will be able to license the platform for internal use, thereby enabling these companies to gain a deeper insight into the skill set of their programmers and potential hires.
The rating of the programmer’s skill set is dependent on a set of tests that he takes and is compared to other programmers with the same skill set. Trollim warns cheaters that they “will be caught and locked away in the Trollim Dungeon.”
How Trollim works
Just like on Twitter, on Trollim the programmer can follow other programmers (Trolls) and they can follow him back. Users can search for other Trolls based upon criteria such as country, city, age group, coding languages, skills and more. The programmer can invite Trolls he follows into a battle anytime he likes. Trolls can only compete against each other if they share appropriate skill sets (i.e. language, years of experience, etc). Battles are found both on the Battle and Search pages. Users can also find battles using the Troll universe map. Users cannot participate in more than 10 Battles at any given moment.
There’s also something called a Rumble Battle. This battle allows one Troll to fight many Trolls and the parameters for who can participate varies on the Rumble’s sponsor. Battles can be selected by geographical location, age and other parameters set by the sponsor. A Rumble can be created by the Trollim website or by a company sponsoring the Rumble. Trolls who win the Rumble or get high scores receive extra rating points. Some of the Rumbles will also include prizes. The value of the prizes is directly related to the Trolls skill level.
Israel-based Trollim allows programmers to show companies their skill set and make themselves attractive candidates for positions in companies they are seeking to work at. Enterprises are able to use the data provided by Trollim to further understand the skills their in-house programmers currently have and to find new programmers that may have the skill set they are looking for. No other current platform enables both programmers and enterprises to maximize on these programming skills as well as Trollim does.
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