24-year-old Taiwanese Student wins the title of ‘World’s Best Coder’ at TCS CodeVita 2025

In its 12^th edition, the global coding competition attracted a record number of registrations from over 537K students across 96 countries

‘Top Woman Coder’ title won by Ankitha Varma from India and ‘Top Emerging Coder’ title was won by Zhou Jingkai from People's Republic of China

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions announced the winners of its global coding contest CodeVita at a grand finale held at the TCS Siruseri campus in Chennai. Jeffrey Ho, 24, from Taiwan took home the winning title at the competition that holds the Guiness World Record^TM as the world’s largest computer programing competition.

Building on the theme ‘United by Code’, this season of CodeVita brought together the brightest minds in programming, pushing the boundaries of coding excellence. In its 12^th edition, the competition attracted over 537K registrations – the highest ever – from across 96 countries.

TCS CodeVita takes a gamified approach to promote coding awareness among students. Over the years, hundreds of students have completed internships at TCS, with the top three coders each season being given the opportunity to intern directly with the TCS Research and Innovation team. CodeVita consists of three rounds of coding challenges. In Round 1, contestants must solve at least one challenge to advance. In Round 2, they face a new set of complex problems. Every year, only the top 25 contestants make it to the final round.

Harrick Vin, Chief Technology Officer, TCS, said, “TCS Codevita not only challenges participants to elevate their coding skills but also offers a unique opportunity to explore real-world applications and emerging technology trends. Now in its 12^th season, this global coding competition continues to raise the bar for talent, inspiring fresh perspectives and nurturing engineering excellence. Through platforms like TCS CodeVita, the organization is empowering the next generation of problem solvers and building a community of young leaders that will shape the tech landscape of tomorrow.”

The TCS Research & Innovation team has developed a framework that automates the submission, compilation, and evaluation of contestants' code. They also support the submission, compilation, and evaluation of code across eight programming languages for CodeVita. The challenges are curated by experienced TCS coders in The Philacodist Club. This year's questions ranged from formula-based problems and algorithmic challenges to real-life applications and data structure-related tasks.

While Jeffrey was awarded the winning cash prize of $10,000, the runners-up Martin Andrighetti, 24, and Ignacio Munoz, 22, from Chile were awarded $7,000 and $3,000 respectively. Notably, Andrighetti won the competition in 2024. This season also recognized Top Woman Coder Ankitha Varma, 20, from India and Top Emerging Coder Zhou Jingkai, 19, from People's Republic of China.  

Jeffrey Ho, winner of TCS CodeVita Season 12, said, “This is my fourth year at the TCS CodeVita, and this journey has been nothing short of incredible. Each year brought new challenges, tougher competition, and valuable lessons. Standing here as the winner today makes all the hard work, perseverance, and passion truly worth it.”

Held on March 21 in Chennai, the grand finale brought together 25 finalists from eight countries including Spain, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, China, Taiwan, and India. Apart from the contestants, the 12^th season of TCS CodeVita was also attended by His Excellency Javier Paulinich, Ambassador of the Republic of Peru and Sunita Shahaney, Honorary Consul of Chile in Chennai along with TCS business leaders and academicians.

For highlights, winner details, and insights from this season, visit TCS Global Official Social Media handles.