I never expected to spend a few months learning quantum computing.
The workshop series leading up to this competition was completely outside my usual interests. I’m a CS student slash aspiring SWE, and quantum computing felt much closer to physics and math than anything I normally worked on. I wasn’t even the most diligent attendee either, missed sessions, fell behind, never got the certificate. But I still wanted to see if I could pull it off.
A different kind of problem
Most CTFs I’ve joined revolve around things I’m already familiar with, like web security (see my first CTF). This one had a Classical-Quantum category, so while my teammates handled the traditional cybersecurity challenges, I spent most of my time on quantum circuits and gates. The problems felt less like programming and more like math puzzles. Barely any code to write, mostly reasoning about how a circuit behaved and what it would output.
Learning transfers more than you think
Quantum computing was new, but I wasn’t starting from zero. I had the CS foundations: Python, algorithms, even the Calculus we all complained about. What changed was the domain, not the way of thinking. Software engineering already taught me to break down problems, test assumptions, and iterate until something clicks. That mindset carried over.
Solving as a team
The competition only lasted three hours, so our team divided the categories between us. If someone got stuck, we’d rotate or work through a challenge together.
By the end of the competition, our team finished first in the Visayas regional leaderboard and won the regional leg of what was the Philippines’ first quantum-themed CTF.
Staying curious
I’m not planning to switch careers and become a quantum computing researcher. That was never the point. Software engineering doesn’t have to be a box you stay inside, and sometimes the most valuable thing you can do is learn something that has nothing to do with your day-to-day work. Maybe you’ll never use it again. Or maybe, like this competition, you’ll find out the hardest part wasn’t learning quantum computing. It was convincing yourself to try.
How it turned out
Champion (1st Place) - 165 team points, 65 individual points
