Deadline: November 15, 2020


Ready to solve fun, challenging problems? Kick Start hosts online rounds throughout the year, giving participants the opportunity to test and grow their coding abilities while getting a sample of the programming skills needed for a technical career at Google. Participate in one — or join them all!

What is Kick Start?

• I’ve never done Kick Start; what is it?

  Kick Start is an online coding competition that offers single rounds throughout the year in which you write code to solve algorithmic problems that have multiple layers of difficulty.

• Who is eligible to compete in Kick Start?

  See Section 1 (Eligibility) of the Coding Competitions Terms for complete eligibility criteria.

• How does Kick Start work?

  1. Create a Coding Competitions profile if you don’t have one already. Then, when registration for the contest opens up, sign up! You must have or create a profile before you’re able to register for a contest.
  2. Once the Round starts, a link on the homepage will direct you to the dashboard for that Round.
  3. On the Round Overview page, you’ll see the problems. They will be listed in approximate order of difficulty, so we recommend starting with the first one.
  4. Read the problem description:
     1. The statement describes the problem that you need to write code to solve.
     2. The Input and Limits sections describe the test sets, which are an ordered list of difficulty targets for your program to hit. These sections make guarantees about the sort of data your code will have to run on for each test set.
     3. The Output and Sample Cases sections clarify what your code has to do.
  5. Write a solution that you think can pass at least Test Set 1.
  6. If you’d like, you can test your solution on test cases of your choice.
  7. When you submit a solution, we will first run your code against the sample cases (for non-interactive problems). If it passes those, we will run the code against Test Set 1, and on the next test set if that passes, and so on.
  8. For Visible Verdict Test Sets, you will learn during the Round whether your code passed. You can submit as many times as you like, with minor penalties.
  9. Solve as many test sets for as many problems as you can before the Round ends. The more test sets you solve, the higher your score.

• Will I receive a Kick Start certificate and when are they given out?

  As a Kick Start contestant, you will receive a certificate for each round in which you participate in as long as you make one competitive attempt. You will also receive a summary certificate for each round you participate in that will auto update if you participate in multiple rounds. Certificates will be available on your Coding Competitions profile and will appear sometime after the round ends. Please note that both the Coding Competitions Terms and Kick Start Rules must be met in order to receive a certificate. Please note that both the Coding Competitions Terms and KS Rules govern the issuance of any certificate.

• Where can I submit feedback or other questions not answered here?

  If you have any questions not addressed in this FAQ or would like to submit feedback to the Kick Start team, please contact us at kickstart@google.com and we will do our best to respond within two (2) business days. For any questions that require an answer while a Round is active, we will respond as soon as possible.

How it works

Looking to practice?

• • I’ve never done Kick Start; what is it?

    Kick Start is an online coding competition that offers single rounds throughout the year in which you write code to solve algorithmic problems that have multiple layers of difficulty.

  • Who is eligible to compete in Kick Start?

    See Section 1 (Eligibility) of the Coding Competitions Terms for complete eligibility criteria.

  • How does Kick Start work?

    1. Create a Coding Competitions profile if you don’t have one already. Then, when registration for the contest opens up, sign up! You must have or create a profile before you’re able to register for a contest.
    2. Once the Round starts, a link on the homepage will direct you to the dashboard for that Round.
    3. On the Round Overview page, you’ll see the problems. They will be listed in approximate order of difficulty, so we recommend starting with the first one.
    4. Read the problem description:
       1. The statement describes the problem that you need to write code to solve.
       2. The Input and Limits sections describe the test sets, which are an ordered list of difficulty targets for your program to hit. These sections make guarantees about the sort of data your code will have to run on for each test set.
       3. The Output and Sample Cases sections clarify what your code has to do.
    5. Write a solution that you think can pass at least Test Set 1.
    6. If you’d like, you can test your solution on test cases of your choice.
    7. When you submit a solution, we will first run your code against the sample cases (for non-interactive problems). If it passes those, we will run the code against Test Set 1, and on the next test set if that passes, and so on.
    8. For Visible Verdict Test Sets, you will learn during the Round whether your code passed. You can submit as many times as you like, with minor penalties.
    9. Solve as many test sets for as many problems as you can before the Round ends. The more test sets you solve, the higher your score.

  • Will I receive a Kick Start certificate and when are they given out?

    As a Kick Start contestant, you will receive a certificate for each round in which you participate in as long as you make one competitive attempt. You will also receive a summary certificate for each round you participate in that will auto update if you participate in multiple rounds. Certificates will be available on your Coding Competitions profile and will appear sometime after the round ends. Please note that both the Coding Competitions Terms and Kick Start Rules must be met in order to receive a certificate. Please note that both the Coding Competitions Terms and KS Rules govern the issuance of any certificate.

  • Where can I submit feedback or other questions not answered here?

    If you have any questions not addressed in this FAQ or would like to submit feedback to the Kick Start team, please contact us at kickstart@google.com and we will do our best to respond within two (2) business days. For any questions that require an answer while a Round is active, we will respond as soon as possible.

• Registering

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  • How do I register for Kick Start?

    Before participating in Kick Start, you must first have a g.co/codingcompetitions profile. After registration opens, and before the end of the contest, you can register for Kick Start at g.co/kickstart. You can tell whether registration is open by checking the Kick Start schedule.

  • What is the recommended schedule for participants?

    Contestants may participate in as many rounds as they like but for students graduating in 2020 or later, we recommend the following:

    For participants in Australia and New Zealand

    • Sunday, March 22, 2020 04:00 UTC – 07:00 UTC
    • Saturday, April 18, 2020 23:00 UTC – 02:00 UTC

    For participants in Greater China

    • Sunday, March 22, 2020 04:00 UTC – 07:00 UTC
    • Sunday, May 17, 2020 11:00 UTC – 14:00 UTC
    • Sunday, August 23, 2020 03:30 UTC – 06:30 UTC
    • Sunday, October 18, 2020 12:00 UTC – 15:00 UTC
    • Sunday, November 15, 2020 03:00 UTC – 06:00 UTC

    For participants in India

    • Sunday, July 12, 2020 05:00 UTC – 08:00 UTC
    • Sunday, October 18, 2020 12:00 UTC – 15:00 UTC

    For participants in Japan

    • Saturday, April 18, 2020 23:00 UTC – 02:00 UTC
    • Sunday, May 17, 2020 11:00 UTC – 14:00 UTC

    For participants in South Korea

    • Sunday, November 15, 2020 03:00 UTC – 06:00 UTC

    For participants in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Republic of the Philippines

    • Sunday, July 12, 2020 05:00 UTC – 08:00 UTC
    • Sunday, August 23, 2020 03:30 UTC – 06:30 UTC
    • Sunday, September 27, 2020 00:00 UTC – 03:00 UTC
    • Sunday, October 18, 2020 12:00 UTC – 15:00 UTC

    For participants in North and South America

    • Saturday, April 18, 2020 23:00 UTC – 02:00 UTC
    • Sunday, September 27, 2019 00:00 UTC – 03:00 UTC
    • Sunday, October 18, 2020 12:00 UTC – 15:00 UTC

    For participants in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

    • Sunday, May 17, 2020 11:00 UTC – 14:00 UTC
    • Sunday, October 18, 2020 12:00 UTC – 15:00 UTC

  • I am unable to sign in to register. What should I do?

    We suggest the following troubleshooting fixes:
    • Clearing your cache.
    • Enabling third party cookies. Our site only uses cookies from Google, but since we are using multiple Google-owned domains, these cookies may be considered third-party. They must be enabled for the site to work. Most browsers tell you which cookies are being blocked; consider whitelisting only Google cookies that you are comfortable with.
    • Using an incognito browser window.

    If you still cannot register, please send us an email at kickstart@google.com.

  • How can I confirm that I am registered?

    You can confirm that you are registered by signing in and opening the Coding Competitions companion.

  • What if I registered for Kick Start in the past on the old platform?

    To compete in this year’s Kick Start, you still need to create a Coding Competitions profile, even if you registered for Kick Start in past years. To claim your past nickname and certificates, register with the same Google account you used previously. You’ll see your past information pre-filled in the profile creation form. If you’d like to use your previous nickname with a different account, please see below. Once you’ve created a Coding Competitions profile, don’t forget you’ll need to register for Kick Start. See more on registering above. If you encounter difficulties, please let us know at kickstart@google.com.

  • What can I use for my nickname?

    Contestants should avoid creating nicknames that could be interpreted as offensive or obscene, or violate the intellectual property rights of others (in each case, as determined at Google’s sole discretion). You should not include and are strongly discouraged from including any personally identifying information (e.g., your legal name) in your nickname because your nickname will be publicly displayed on the scoreboard. For more information, see Section 2.2 (Nicknames) of the Coding Competitions Terms.

  • How can I change my nickname or otherwise update my profile?

    You may update your profile at g.co/codingcompetitions.

  • My nickname (N) is already tied to one account (A), is it possible to switch it to another account (B)?

    You can do this as follows:
    1. Update your profile for account A to change N to something else.
    2. Register using account B, and select nickname N.

    Be aware that another user may take nickname N between steps 1 and 2. Also be aware that we may not support this option indefinitely. Finally, as a reminder and in accordance with Section 2.1(E) of the Coding Competitions Terms, you may not use both accounts A and B to compete in the same contest otherwise you risk being disqualified.

  • How do I request my Coding Competitions profile and information be deleted?

    In accordance with Section 4.4(B) of the Coding Competitions Terms, when you are logged into a Contest website, you will be able to access, review, and update some of your personal data held by Google in connection with a Contest. If you would like to delete any of your personal data held by Google in connection with Google’s Coding Competitions please email codingcompetitions@google.com.