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So, what's it really like?

What started nine years ago as a way to get students psyched about technology has grown into something amazing. In fact, more than 325,000 students from around the world registered last year alone! Let’s hear what some of them had to say about their experience in the Imagine Cup.

Imagine Cup - Egypt 2009

Two of us participated in the Imagine Cup 2008 with good results. We then decided to make a new team with the best students at our school. We got a lot of experience from participating in the Imagine Cup. As a designer I gained real experience from writing the design and developing this through a long period. At school you never get this kind of experience, so I strongly recommend every student participate in Imagine Cup and gain this real experience. The programmers have learned more than they ever would as normal students and they both have part-time jobs as a result from their Imagine Cup entry.

NITHWalkers - Game Development
Bjornar Herstad, Stig Rue Skansgord, Marius Brendmoe, Michael Iversen

Imagine Cup - France 2008

Three freshmen and a junior from Seattle Pacific University won second place and $8,000 at the 2008 U.S. Imagine Cup Finals.

CarbonCart is an eco-conscious e-commerce site carrying the entire product inventory of online retail giant Amazon.com that allows consumers to carbon-neutralize their Internet shopping. By placing their orders for Amazon.com products through CarbonCart.com, consumers can purchase carbon credits to pay for renewable energy initiatives, reforestation or energy efficiency projects that offset the carbon dioxide generated in the shipping of their purchases.

These students represent the ultimate team in the U.S., with a successful business and significant partnership with Amazon.com.

Team Carbon Cart - Software Design, Finalists, United States
Ryan Tilton, Reed Probus, Kevin McFarland, Laura Hanes

I am in my fifth and last year of studies in Strate College Designers (Design School). The Imagine Cup experience allowed me to meet a large number of people from many different places around the world.

The competition was an opportunity to design a solution for one of the major issues facing all of us today: protecting the environment. In planning my design, I discovered new design tools like Expression Design and Expression Blend; both proved very interesting from a creation perspective. The Imagine Cup has been a true ramp up for my career, and overall it was a very fulfilling experience.

The Worldwide Finals was the definite climax of that experience: a crazed week filled with encounters, parties, excursions in so many unforgettable places with unforgettable people.

Johanna Rowe - Interface Design, Bronze Medal

Imagine Cup - India 2006

I am currently a .NET consultant at Microsoft Consulting Services. Right after the Imagine Cup, it was time for me to find a job, and I was lucky enough to get many job offers. I finally joined Societe General Investment Banking in London as a Technical Lead on .NET/SQL Server based solutions. I got promoted about a year after that as a project manager in a tactical Web development team, and I managed several projects there. After that, I decided to join Microsoft.

Imagine Cup was a real ramp up to success for me. It helped distinguish me from other candidates at the end of my studies.It also provided me contact with Microsoft Technologies. Right now I live a life of innovation, passion, and technology that one can only experience at Microsoft. The Imagine Cup competition puts you in the spotlight media-wise. I guarantee that Talent Acquisition teams take a long, hard look at what you accomplish through the competition. From a personal perspective, the Imagine Cup was a major turn in the appetite I had for meeting new people, discovering new countries, cultures, and technologies. I will always remember the awesome diversity of solutions from different countries that you can see at the Worldwide Finals. Just incredible!

Vincent Bellet - Software Design, Semi-finals in France