As quantum computing takes the tech world by stormOpens a new window , Mike Morris, CEO of Topcoder (a Wipro Company), decodes the best-known and oddest properties of the quantum world – a property known as ‘superposition’ in this Tech Talk Interview with Toolbox. He discusses how coders and developers can begin to construct algorithms to stay on top of the quantum computing wave.
Mike answers questions about quantum computing, the applications of quantum computing and more. As a gig economy expert, he informs the coding world of the transformative nature of digital coding across every industry possible. Currently, Fujitsu TC3 (Topcoder’s leading partner in Japan)Opens a new window and Topcoder are taking the next step in bringing quantum computingOpens a new window to the masses.
With Topcoder leading the dialogue for developers, designers, data scientists and testers around the world to innovate, build experience and earn recognition, Mike’s exclusive conversation with Toolbox focuses on how coders can best leverage quantum computing technologies.
Mike also fields questions about quantum computing on:
- How to manage quantum computing coding problems.
- How can freelance coders build robust quantum computing systems?
- What can developers do when designing tools for cross-medium experiences.
Key takeaways from this Tech Talk interview:
- Find out why quantum computing is important
- Learn why quantum computing is faster than traditional methods
- Get insights into the quantum computing trends for 2020
Here’s what Mike shares on the applications of quantum computing in 2019:
Mike, to set the stage, tell us about your career path so far and what your role at Topcoder entails.
I’ve been a techie since sneaking time on my brother’s Digital BASIC computer in the early 80s. In school, I gravitated toward the sciences: mathematics, physics, digital systems and computing and credit Boston College with fueling that interest with ideals of innovation and entrepreneurship.
As CEO of Topcoder (a global community of 1.5M+ design, development and data science experts disrupting enterprise software innovation through competition) and the Global Head of Crowdsourcing for IT-services leader Wipro, it’s my job to figure out how to leverage the gig economy for industry advancement, and cultivate a passionate global workforce that drives the transformative nature of digital asset development across every vertical imaginable. Topcoder leads this crowdsourcing revolution by empowering organizations with limitless software development possibilities and unprecedented access to a talented pool of multinational technologists.
Can you tell us about your plans to begin managing quantum computing coding problems to construct algorithms?
It’s tough to put “quantum†in the same category as other new technologies, like 5G or blockchain. The impact quantum computing will have on business, cultures and communities at large is, currently, beyond measure. It’s poised to deliver monumental leaps in terms of computing power and the ability to solve seemingly intractable problems.
Quantum’s primary challenge is that the workforce and mainstream business simply aren’t ready for it. Only a small segment of technologists in the world have the skills to construct quantum-quality algorithms and only a handful of companies have the money to afford computers to be able to process them.
Although quantum is in its infancy, by 2022, we expect the dynamic to change. Forward-thinking companies with deep pockets or idea assets of high value are already beginning to test the quantum technology waters. Topcoder is ahead of that curve by fostering a collaborative pay-for-performance, hands-on learning environment where developers and data scientists with the highest quantum potential are identified and trained with the skills necessary to stay ahead of business demands.
Fujitsu and one of Topcoder’s Japan-based partners, TC3, share in the commitment to grooming the next wave of digital technologists. Together, we’ve created a series of quantum educational challenges on our crowdsourcing platform for Fujitsu’s Digital AnnealerOpens a new window (Fujitsu’s quantum-inspired computer architecture that focuses on rapidly solving combinatorial optimization problems). Digital Annealer can solve difficult problems within several seconds that would take a classical computer much longer to process: we’re talking about computing power that is one million times faster that mainstream methods. Topcoder challenge participants learn the basics of the Digital Annealer API and apply it to solving universal, real-world problems, and Fujitsu benefits from unfettered access to those crowdsourced solutions.
Learn More: Quantum Computing Promises Breakthroughs, but Beware Security ThreatsOpens a new window
In your opinion, how can coders leverage quantum computing technologies?
As more organizations explore quantum computing, demand for developers with skills in this area will only increase, resulting in workforce development capturing a larger slice of IT’s budget.
For developers, there is already an abundance of free, publicly available educational resources, tools and code that can help hone quantum skills. Some include Coursera’s free introduction to quantum computing courseOpens a new window , MIT’s materialsOpens a new window , UC Berkeley’s free courseOpens a new window and Quantum Computing Playground. Opens a new window
After finding the right resources, it’s all about good old-fashioned practice.
Some companies have already figured out how to tap into this talent source. Google employs more contractors than full-time employees, and a 2018 BCG and Harvard Business School survey of 6,500 worldwide executives found 40 percent expect freelancers to account for an increased share of their workforce over the coming five years. The talent is there, but you must know how to harness it.
What are the top three running challenges freelance coders need to foresee in order to build robust quantum computing systems?
Quantum coding is unlike any other methodology and presents new challenges for the coding workforce.
The level of algorithmic sophistication is beyond anything the IT community has seen to date, but the propensity to learn, quickly, is there.
Notably, one challenge for freelance coders is one of the greatest benefits to customers, the innovation opportunities a crowdsourced solution can bring to solve a problem.
We’ve seen coders with little domain expertise jump into a quantum coding challenge and create better (winning) solutions than community members focused on that industry. Customers appreciate this dichotomy of result: we often hear that an approach taken by a coder was “out of left field†and completed in a way that a trained domain expert probably wouldn’t have thought to solve it.
Another issue that will take time to solve is access to the environments and sandboxes to play in. Fujitsu, for example, has done a great job allowing people to code on emulators, but it ultimately will not be the same and access to those resources will be a challenge.
I hope to see educational institutions provide a means for students and communities of technologists, like Topcoder, to have open forums to learn and experiment in these advanced environments. If it is only available to the biggest enterprises with the largest check books, we may not see the best use of the technology in the short-term.
Everyone involved with quantum will need to unlearn what has already been learned. It remains to be seen if this transition ease is possible with quantum, or if even more specialization that we currently anticipate will be required. One thing I’m sure of, we’ll be seeing a new crowd of technologists with even deeper math skills surface and lead the quantum charge.
Learn More: Cryptography for a Post-Quantum WorldOpens a new window
Businesses use crowdsourcing platforms to develop applications at competitive costs. How can data scientists, developers and coders crunch algorithms and uncover hidden insights that meet quality standards?
Quality Assurance (QA) is intended to prevent malfunctioning code (or, a malfunctioning application) and to make sure an application meets certain requirements. It is also about making sure the application in progress incorporates real user feedback and is free of bugs.
In order to achieve those things, businesses must allot the time and budget for testing. According to Forrester Research, a company’s QA budget should be 25 percent of their development costs. Ideally, testing should be done early and often. Doing so enables developers to catch issues as they arise, ultimately leading to less rework, fewer headaches, and less technical debt to pay down the road.
My recommendation is to use an expert QA tester that is skilled at breaking down an application to pinpoint parts of it that aren’t working properly. QA testers can even be crowdsourced, which helps businesses find and use the most talented freelance testers.
The shortage of quantum developers will place them in extremely high demand for full-time employment and freelance opportunities. Joining the global community of virtual contractors (i.e., the gig economy workforce), will give quantum developers the flexibility and chance to work on a variety of projects across different industries and countries, the possibilities are endless.
How can businesses accurately measure the ROI from freelance coders?
As a CEO, I’m constantly evaluating processes, services, products and even people, for the value they bring to Topcoder and its community, customers and partners, so I can fully appreciate that question.
A gig economy mindset requires a flip on compensation models that both sides of the current workplace has for better or worse, become accustom to. Crowdsourcing with a gig economy workforce couldn’t be more simple or straightforward. It’s about pays for performance, and that performance equates to outcomes, their quality and the time it took to achieve them. The C-suite, HR and IT teams need to start forecasting and measuring with outcomes as the lead, not dollars of cost-per-hour.
Also, businesses should set metrics before engaging a gig economy workforce that measure what a successful engagement looks like. Metrics that point to ROI achieved could include average project length, time spent on each aspect or feature of the application, how quickly the software improves a business result or solves a problem and feedback on the application from the QA team (i.e., number of bugs, amount of application uptime etc).
IT teams leveraging freelance coders should expect to demonstrate various types of return metrics to validate investment. For example, Topcoder has studied the ROI businesses gain from using freelance coders via crowdsourcing and found that the speed in which projects are delivered increased by 3x, and the capacity of internal project managers has also increased by 3x.
Learn More: Could Quantum Chips Be The Key To IoT Security?Opens a new window
What steps can be taken towards understanding business rules, edge cases, and context over time by freelance developers?
Crowdsourced development resources bring a level of skill and innovation to solving a problem. A gig economy workforce can be a significant competitive advantage and strengthen IT development. One area to highlight is how it results in greater documentation, knowledge sharing and efficiencies.
In this videoOpens a new window , Microsoft talks about the power of the crowd and how it leveraged a gig economy workforce to advance QA and testing. Microsoft realized there was a lot of in-house and in-brain knowledge that wasn’t yet documented: it was generally known by their IT team, but the lack of documented rules, mapped edge cases mapped, and historical data (qualitative and quantitative) was tribal and not easily transferrable. Microsoft applied a crowd methodology to solving this problem and established new internal benchmarks for future development projects.
Tell us about the future projects in quantum computing at Topcoder that you are excited about.
There are many areas where quantum computing will have a big impact on industries, some of them fundamental (i.e. security or financial services), some of them disruptive (i.e. artificial intelligence and machine learning), but the areas I am most excited about are predictive medicine and space. Predictive medicine will change the entire way healthcare is administered and the role of doctors will drastically change. With regards to long distance space travel, it’s only limited by our ability to solve a series of hard problems. Quantum will provide that capability and give researchers at NASA and other space administrations around the world the tools they need to make science fiction.
Which trends are you tracking in this space as we approach 2020?
As mentioned, quantum is on the top of the list for trends Topcoder is tracking, and specifically influencing into the next decade. We are focused on building a highly coveted community of developers with quantum computing skills, so public and private sector organizations can harness their talent and expand quantum possibilities.
What Topcoder will continue to focus on is that cultivation, qualification and proliferation of the crowdsourced gig economy workforce for software design/development and data science across every vertical, from financial services to energy to highly regulated industries to retail. Businesses are feeling pressure to find talent to keep pace with the changing technology landscape. AI, for example, is now embedded into so many aspects of technology (e.g., the computer vision algorithm powering lung cancer treatment plans, the prediction modeling powering retail dashboards, chatbots that address customer inquiries, etc.) that businesses need more help to understand today’s mobile, multitasking, gig economy workforce.
Neha: Thank you, Mike, for sharing insights on the applications of quantum computing. We hope to talk to you again soon.
About Mike MorrisOpens a new window :
Mike Morris is the CEO of Topcoder (a global community of 1.4M+ design, development and data science experts disrupting enterprise software innovation through competition) and Global Head of Crowdsourcing for IT-services leader Wipro. A gig economy expert, he speaks worldwide about cultivating a passionate workforce to drive the transformative nature of digital asset development across every industry imaginable. An active Boston College alum and engineer at heart, Mike continues to lead the crowdsourcing revolution by empowering organizations with limitless software development possibilities and unprecedented access to Topcoder’s talented multinational technologists.
About Topcoder:Opens a new window
Topcoder, a Wipro company, is a workforce marketplace with 1.4+ million developers, designers, data scientists and testers around the world. For more than a decade, Topcoder has helped organizations, including IBM, Honeywell, GE, BMC, Booz Allen, NASA Tournament Lab, Harvard Medical School, U.S. Dept. of Energy and Land O’Lakes, accelerate innovation, solve challenging problems and tap into hard-to-find skills. Enterprises distribute work to Topcoder’s global network through the Topcoder platform, where individuals with the right skills participate in competitions to win money, build experience and earn recognition.
About Tech Talk:
Tech Talk is a Toolbox Interview Series with notable CTOs from around the world. Join us to share your insights and research on where technology and data are heading in the future. This interview series focuses on integrated solutions, research and best practices in the day-to-day work of the tech world.
What do you think about the future of quantum computing? Share your views and opinions with us on TwitterOpens a new window , Facebook Opens a new window and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’re always listening.