Overview
What this challenge is about.
Implement min-cost max-flow for cloud workload placement and benchmark against a greedy baseline. Earn your verifiable certificate.
The scenario
The provider (around USD 110M ARR, infrastructure-as-a-service for European fintechs) has a CTO who wants the math defensible before committing — they have been burned by 'just use a heuristic' twice.
The Brief
What you'll do, and what you'll demonstrate.
Replace a greedy workload placer with a min-cost max-flow formulation that respects affinity rules and beats the baseline on bandwidth cost and zone balance.
Earning criteria — what you'll demonstrate
- Model a real placement problem as min-cost max-flow with affinity edges
- Implement a polynomial-time min-cost flow algorithm without a solver
- Benchmark a flow-based solution against a greedy heuristic at scale
- Defend network-flow modeling choices to senior engineering leadership
Program Fit
Where this fits in your program.
Sharpens the same skills your degree expects you to demonstrate.
Advanced Algorithms
Master · Algorithms
Strong alignment
This challenge maps to Advanced Algorithms at the Master level. It sharpens the same practical skills your coursework expects — but in a real industry context with actual constraints and deliverables.
Skills
Skills you'll demonstrate.
Each one shows up on your verified credential.
- Network Flows
Apply network flows to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Algorithm Analysis
Apply algorithm analysis to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Graph Algorithms
Apply graph algorithms to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Python
Write clean, efficient Python for data processing, automation, and backend services.
- Benchmarking
Apply benchmarking to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
- Optimization
Apply optimization to solve real industry problems and demonstrate production-level capability.
Careers
Career paths this challenge builds toward
Completing this challenge demonstrates skills that transfer directly to these roles: