Open source training and the Red Hat Challenge Labs
Open source training is a powerful tool, and the skills and experiences learned can be immediately applied to numerous real-world working situations. The use of a stable and flexible foundation means open source can be adapted to situations as required, making challenges easy to overcome.
Red Hat Challenge@Labs is a strong starting point for students, as they have the opportunity to design solutions for real problems and issues--and, if they're successful, pitch them to industry experts.
Here we take a look at Red Hat Challenge@Labs and an interview with an intern at Red Hat Beijing who had the opportunity to participate in the 2013 challenge.
Red Hat Challenge@Labs
Red Hat Challenge@Labs offers students the opportunity to take part in a regional knowledge-based challenge with other students from a number of countries. Participants in the 2014 challenge are tasked with developing and building any applications focused on the theme of "Smart Living, Smart Homes" over a period of 12 weeks.
"For the past three years, Red Hat Challenge has given students and schools an opportunity to learn, build, and create. This year, Red Hat wanted to move up a notch and go beyond the use of open source technologies in the real world," said Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen, senior vice president and general manager at Red Hat Asia Pacific.
They need to build an application based on the theme, and deploy it into a cloud stack using Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform and OpenShift, the company's award-winning Platform-as-a-Service offering.
The finals then involve the top teams and individuals traveling to Singapore to compete at the IDA Labs, a physical lab space by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore to promote collaboration and foster innovation.
The finalists are then required to pitch the applications to a panel of experts, where a focus is placed on building solutions to address real issues.
Participants are given the chance to attend virtual and in-person workshops prior to the commencement of the challenge to prepare for the event. These technical workshops are designed to ensure a smooth entry into the involving process of the challenge.
Participating countries in the Red Hat Challenge@Labs include Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and China.
Real-world working experience
As part of the initiative to engage students and open source communities, an undergraduate student at The Chinese University of Hong Kong was given the opportunity to intern with Red Hat Beijing and gain real-world working experience.
Elton Chung, both a finalist of Red Hat Challenge 2013 and an open source advocate, was able to gain real-world working experience through a one-month internship with the world's leading open source solutions provider. In order to gain the apprenticeship, he surpassed more than 3,000 other contestants in the competition.
"Taking part in the challenge allowed me to better understand Red Hat's technologies, such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization," Chung said.
"My most memorable experience was visiting the Red Hat Beijing Research and Development office, where other finalists and I were given the opportunity to meet several Red Hat associates and to know more about their daily work."
While at Red Hat, he interned with the Global Learning Services team, which manages the Red Hat training curriculum as well as the professional certification programs. Elton gained an understanding how exactly the examinations are delivered across the globe. He also took the opportunity to earn the Red Hat Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack (EX210) certification.
Elton found working within an open source company to provide a high degree of flexibility, and the opportunity to explore further possibilities. By working with the experts in Red Hat's Bejing office, Elton also shared that he gained a high degree of real-world working experience.
With open source offering such a capable and innovative platform, students should certainly consider how participating in the Red Hat Challenge can be beneficial for them.
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