[HN Gopher] Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet...
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Sydney man dubbed the 'Annihilator' wins spreadsheet world
championship
Author : tonyedgecombe
Score : 139 points
Date : 2023-12-16 17:59 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| dgrin91 wrote:
| I wish they would explain more about what the actual tasks are.
| They basically jus said 'you get data and you do calculations'.
| Well thanks, thats basically all excel. A link to the problem set
| would be interesting. Real time data from Eve is pretty cool, but
| whats the actual results they are trying to get? How do they do
| scoring?
| codetrotter wrote:
| I have a feeling that these sorts of questions will be answered
| if we look at the actual video from the finals.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/live/UDGdPE_C9u8
| Tyr42 wrote:
| 13 minutes in.
| lIl-IIIl wrote:
| The puzzle description begins at 1:18:44.
|
| But it doesn't feel like it's a complete description of the
| puzzle, just the data format. Do the competitors have a list
| of questions?
| itishappy wrote:
| Indeed they do get lists of questions (including bonus
| ones)! The puzzle description at 13 minutes explains a bit
| more.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8&t=811s
| TOMDM wrote:
| There are some sample cases on the Financiaal Modelling World
| Cup website.
|
| https://fmworldcup.com/sample-cases/
| Tao3300 wrote:
| That's probably above the Guardian's heads. I don't mean that
| as a diss, just that that level of technicality isn't their
| thing.
| BLKNSLVR wrote:
| Direct excerpt that gives an idea of the task(s):
|
| "With entertainment in mind, the organisers shortened rounds to
| 30 minutes and livened up the cases. For example, Ngai had to
| calculate the market value of a fleet of spaceships using real
| data from the video game Eve Online - with the action televised
| live on ESPN."
| peetabix wrote:
| I think 'People make games' did a video on it on YouTube.
| throwup238 wrote:
| I was not expecting a sweet photo of a beaming actuary when
| opening an article about someone nicknamed the "Annihilator."
|
| That Excel championship wrestling belt is really cool though.
| lianna-vba wrote:
| The prizes are really cool. The winner of the sister
| competition (more finance focused) gets a large 'diamond'
| encrusted ring.
|
| I encourage anyone who enjoys problem solving and Excel to sign
| up for the upcoming 2024 competition. Who knows, maybe you'll
| get flown out to Las Vegas to compete in the finals next year?
|
| https://fmworldcup.com/product-category/battles/
| resolutebat wrote:
| It's not a novel observation that in the online world, the
| people with the most badass handles tend to the most harmless
| in real life.
|
| In Ngai's favor, though, apparently somebody else came up with
| his moniker.
| tkzed49 wrote:
| Personally I'm a fan of MAKRO, I think his commentary on the meta
| is very insightful.
|
| https://youtu.be/xubbVvKbUfY
| resolutebat wrote:
| "What's up sheetheads!" Looking forward to the Annihilator
| crushing next year's Ballmercon, at least if MS gets their
| fucking shit together and fixes the Chinese key bindings.
| scrlk wrote:
| Did the pro scene ever get over the introduction of XLOOKUP
| overturning years of established meta?
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp2-EUKQAI
| mongol wrote:
| He was the one who introduced me to the pro scene.
| ta8645 wrote:
| Judging from the other replies, this is a real thing. But I was
| convinced it was a parody comedy video after watching it
| myself.
| orthoxerox wrote:
| No, it's a comedy video, but life imitates art.
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| I never thought I was going to see an Excel world tournament with
| commentators, etc. That is, Excel as an e-sport.
| cglong wrote:
| I actually watched this live at a sports bar airing ESPN-U. It
| was a surreal experience haha
| manav wrote:
| Excellent.
| putna wrote:
| you get my upvote
| marcod wrote:
| > But the last word goes to Brandon Moyer, who was eliminated in
| the final. In his post-game interview, the US competitor thanked
| his wife, who "never made fun of me, even once, for competing in
| the Microsoft Excel world championship".
| bryancoxwell wrote:
| Aw.
| xyst wrote:
| "...spreadsheet world championship"
|
| There's a competition for everything now. What's next?
|
| Most Compelling Deck Championship?
|
| edit; I'm convinced this is a just a massive MS excel
| advertisement. Smh
| gU9x3u8XmQNG wrote:
| Much support, especially if it is run by kiwi's.
| Loughla wrote:
| It can be both. It can be a fun competition and an
| advertisement for excel.
|
| People go nuts over how many times a group of people can kick a
| ball into a net, why not spreadsheets?
| constantly wrote:
| > Most Compelling Deck Championship?
|
| Usually people try to avoid deck measuring contests.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| >edit; I'm convinced this is a just a massive MS excel
| advertisement. Smh
|
| If Microsoft was behind this, why would they hide their
| involvement? And if they were, why would that change anything
| about it?
| iancmceachern wrote:
| Aren't moat sporting events just one massive advertisement?
| acomjean wrote:
| It might be a MS pr move. But it seems a lot of competitions
| are for boosting an industry. The Oscar's celebrate movies, he
| Grammys promote music, "the game awards" promote games.
|
| I imagine a fornite competetion would be sponsored by epic.
| onion2k wrote:
| _Most Compelling Deck Championship?_
|
| Not quite the same but I've attended a few barcamp conferences
| that have had "PowerPoint kareoke" competitions - the goal is
| to present a random deck from SlideShare that you haven't seen
| before, and the most entertaining (by judges or by the crowd)
| wins. It's very funny.
| RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote:
| > with the action televised live on ESPN.
|
| That's what happens where there are more TV minutes than sports
| minutes.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| As someone who steamed a bit of kabaddi last weekend, we are
| nowhere near that point.
| PrimeMcFly wrote:
| Well that's weird. Moreso that it was televised by ESPN and had
| an audience on the edge of their seats.
| kazinator wrote:
| OK, let's have a show of hands. How many of you would trade your
| software dev / coding skills for that title?
| hexane360 wrote:
| Here's a great video about these Excel competitions:
| https://youtu.be/N2QC6VQXo8U
| deebosong wrote:
| Make it into an e-sports competition.
|
| But rather than try to hype it up like fighting game
| tournaments, have it be somewhat milder in aesthetics and tone,
| for the type of crowd it might draw. Like "Best in Show" or
| "Great British Bake Off" or what have you.
| brendamn wrote:
| > He says he is "not bad" at maths - by which he means he came
| top in the state of New South Wales in his year 12 maths exams
|
| As an Australian that has worked with American companies for a
| while, this is a behaviour I've had to overcome. If you tell an
| Australian you're "not bad" at something then they'll take that
| to mean that you're actually quite good, whereas many Americans
| will understand it to mean that you're not good.
| Grimburger wrote:
| _Understatement_ is a cultural thing to the point that chatbots
| have to be retrained to understand it:
| https://www.itnews.com.au/news/agl-trains-its-chatbot-alfie-...
| doesnt_know wrote:
| I'm sure you're aware, but thought I'd drop this for our
| American friends. Australia and New Zealand (where I'm from)
| share Tall poppy syndrome[1] and going by that Wikipedia page,
| there are various over countries that have a similar concept.
|
| Being overly self-congratulatory comes across as this sort of
| grotesque and unattractive quality. It is even true in the
| corporate environments I've worked at where you would normally
| otherwise expect it. Kiwis don't like it and I've seen many
| foreigners, especially the few Americans that have come over
| into management roles completely flounder and have almost
| everyone hate them because of it.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome
| Waterluvian wrote:
| Interesting!
|
| In Canada being modest is quite important... unless it's a
| job interview (whether explicit or implicit), in which case
| it's the "one time you should really brag about what you're
| good at."
| foob wrote:
| Does it always mean that in Australia, or does it depend on how
| you say it? I think both usages are actually pretty common in
| the US, but you tell the difference based on the inflection. If
| you emphasize "too" and go down in pitch on "bad" then it means
| you're actually not that good at something, if you emphasize
| "bad" and go up in pitch then it means you're actually good at
| it. We also have alternative constructions, like "not too
| shabby," which carry the positive connotation regardless of how
| they're pronounced.
| firecall wrote:
| That's my practical understanding of the term as well.
|
| Me: English, living in Australia for >20 years
| throwawaysugar wrote:
| Link to the finals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8
| sundvor wrote:
| Eve Online (aka spreadsheets in space) players past and present
| might enjoy the reference that was made in the article. Was it an
| in-joke?
|
| "For example, Ngai had to calculate the market value of a fleet
| of spaceships using real data from the video game Eve Online -
| with the action televised live on ESPN."
| fbdab103 wrote:
| Do they publish the questions/data anywhere? Would love to have
| an informal competition among similarly minded friends.
|
| Of course, I would try to do it in Pandas and get crushed.
| tacon wrote:
| I just heard of this Excel competition, but Modeloff world
| championship has been going for somewhat longer. It tests Excel
| skills plus financial modeling skills. They have all the old
| questions available for study:
|
| https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/financial-mo...
| codeulike wrote:
| This is the 3 hour video of the final apparently
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDGdPE_C9u8
|
| The bit where Andrew Ngai's scores dont correctly update seems to
| be at about 24:00
|
| Hope someone can make a highlights reel or something?
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(page generated 2023-12-16 23:00 UTC)