Dedicated to gh3ablo

Our beloved designer, friend and MVP.

Gh3ablo was a Topcoder MVP and talented designer at Topcoder. As we dedicate Design Month to him, we want to take some time to appreciate all that he was as an amazing designer and person at Topcoder.

About

Gh3ablo, Gerald Balleta from Philippines, joined Topcoder in May of 2009. He was passionate about his family, his music, gaming, playing bass, programming, designing, and helping all of us through his wit and charm. On March 5, 2020, we lost our beloved Gh3ablo to an illness. Gh3ablo was one of the Topcoder legends who was always bold in his design approaches, and he was always having fun in the design process, whether he was winning or losing.

In addition, he was a great team player and a community member as he was very supportive of guiding newbies in design and taught different skills like XD. He was one of the members who took care of the design newsletter for a few years and his fun memes were always great to see there.

Gh3ablo was always wearing a mask because he was unique! For many years he was a mystery to the community, how he looked, not revealing his face. We will keep always him in our minds and hearts for the great person he was.

GH3ablo’s designs

Here are some of the amazing designs he created for Topcoder customers

QUOTES FROM GH3ABLO

Gh3ablo had many wise quotes about life and the spirit of competition

Recently, I watched this romantic drama… *cry* *tears* *cry*. Beneath the romance shenanigans, I was able to pick up a theme that could easily apply to us as competitors which is - whatever challenge you chose to tackle, embrace it and do your best. Doing so can leave a mark on another’s heart, serving an inspiration to do the same and eventually ripple out, making us a better community to serve and satisfy the clients. This may sound cliché, but it’s always nice to have us reminded once in a while.

So… you didn’t win the checkpoint round - should you even bother joining the final round? I say, if you have the time, why not? Make it an opportunity to learn, try out new things - heck, go crazy! You never know, winning it could just be a little push ahead. :)

Let’s not stop learning and always keep an open mind. Reflect on your past design experiences and maybe dissect what others have already done - try to build on those!

Being a noob at something makes you push harder to get better - let’s keep that noobness and strive to reach places we’ve never been before! :)

FUN MEMES

Fun memes he used to create for the Topcoder Design Newsletter