Mumbai headquartered Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) – a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation – and the Board for IT Education Standards (BITES), an autonomous body promoted by the Government of Karnataka in association with the IT industry and educational institutions, recently conducted the 10th edition of the Engineering IT Quiz – TCS TechBytes. The quiz aims to enhance IT awareness among students and enable them to compete in the fast paced technology intensive industry.

The quiz garnered a huge response, with engineering colleges across Karnataka participating in large numbers in the regional finals conducted at Gulbarga, Dharwad, Tumkur, Mysore, Bangalore and Mangalore recently.

The six regional finalists who qualified for the state finals were:

– Guruprasad Veerannavaru and Chandan Hegde – NIE Institute of Technology, Mysore

– Hrishikesh Thakkar and Pratyush Prakash – NITK Surathkal

– Shashi Singh and Adarsh Vatsa – BMS Institute of Technology, Bangalore

– Vijeth Uday Revankar and Matiurrehman Meersayed  – KLS Vishwanathrao Deshpande Institute of Technology, Haliyal,

– Aatif Husain and Amogh R. Lakkanagavi – BLDGEA College of Engineering Technology, Vijayapura

– Akhil Siddharth and Harikiran C – PES University, Bangalore

The six finalist teams battled it out at the state finals conducted on March 21 at SJB Institute of Technology, Bangalore.

The animation based quiz format had the following three segments  – Byte Link, Byte Pixel, Byte Jumble, Byte Connect and Byte Waves. The quiz had several interesting elements built into it which prompted students to think laterally. Each of the rounds tested the students spectrum of knowledge in the IT sphere.

The students had come well prepared and amazed the audience by answering even the most difficult questions. The final round of the quiz was a cliff hanger and proved to be a battle of nerves as the teams locked horns for the top honours.

After an intense battle of minds among the budding engineers, Akhil Siddharth and Harikiran C from PES University, Bengaluru, emerged winners, followed by Guruprasad Veerannavaru and  Chandan Hegde from NIE Institute of Technology, Mysore as the runners-up.

The state winners received a glittering trophy, TCS educational scholarship of Rs 75,000, smartphones, bluetooth speakers, fitness bands and bags. The runners-up received an educational scholarship of Rs 40,000, smartphones, bluetooth speakers, fitness bands and bags. Teams that stood third, fourth, fifth and sixth also received smartphones, bluetooth speakers, fitness bands and bags.

The prizes were given out to the winners by Dr. Kavi Mahesh – director, IIIT Dharwad who was the chief guest on the occasion, along with Nagaraj Ijari – vice president and head TCS Bangalore Operations and Dr. K.N. Balasubramanya Murthy – chairman BITES. The event was also graced by Suil Deshpande – Centre Head TCS Bangalore and Dr. Puttaraju – principal SJB Institute of Technology.

In a joint statement, Ijari and Dr. Balasubramanya said, “TCS TechBytes strives to showcase the immense strides taking place in the technology landscape. The quiz acts as a catalyst to sharpen engineering minds and broaden their vision on new age technology solutions that are radically changing the way the world does business today.”

A part of the Tata Group, Mumbai headquartered Tata Consultancy Services is India’s leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation.