Several ASU students will be honing their technological skills in a real-life environment at the fifth-annual Avnet Tech Games this spring.

Outside of having networking opportunities, the students could also win up to $1,000 in scholarships each for winning a challenge.

Competitors from colleges and universities around Arizona, and in some cases nationwide, will also be building computers, assembling and programming robots all while being timed, along with other challenges.

Although the competition deadlines are throughout February, March and April, the ASU group is getting a head start at preparing.

Ian Alexander, a computer information systems junior, is planning to register for this year’s competition after competing last year with the W. P. Carey School of Business team.

Alexander will compete in the VMware Virtualization challenge, which is a part of the virtual games category, and has a project submission deadline on March 1.

For this challenge, students have to solve three types of business projects, reducing costs by decreasing the number of servers needed to perform tasks.

“Technically, I think I’m more inclined toward that competition,” Alexander said.

In order to prepare, Alexander said he will download the software from the company and practice.

Last year was a huge learning experience, he said.

“It was exposure to a lot of hardware that we haven’t seen before,” he said.

The competition is important for learning different skill sets and putting them in practice, and also for networking with companies, Alexander said.

“It’s really important to have the technical skills, but it’s also good to get out and talk to these people,” he said.

Teri Radosevich, a spokeswoman for Avnet Inc., a global technology distributor headquartered in Phoenix, said the challenges are multidisciplinary. The earliest registration deadline is on Friday.

“It’s really helping them learn the skills they need to behave successfully on the job,” Radosevich said. “This competition is giving them a leg up over other students.”

Students can stand out from the crowd in the tough job market by participating in technology competitions, she said.

David Lorenzi, an ASU graduate who is currently attending Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, as an information technology graduate student, competed in the 2009 Avnet Tech Games.

He was part of the W. P. Carey School of Business team that won the VMware Virtualization Challenge.

For the challenge, the team wrote a long report and presented it to a panel of officials from VMware Inc. and Avnet Inc., as well as the companies’ clients and consumers.

“You couldn’t run any scans or make stuff up … you had to make sure you really understood what was going on at each level and the types of decisions made,” Lorenzi said.

Having his skills tested in a real-world scenario was the most rewarding aspect of the competition, he said, as well as learning more about the software in general.

“It’s pretty interesting that you can actually save the planet and save money at the same time,” Lorenzi said.

Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu