My First Win in Hackathon!

My First Win in Hackathon!

Finding a unique idea to finding the perfect team to exploring a new tech to securing a position.

About one month ago, I along with my three teammates participated in BuildAModernDataApp By Datastax where we were challenged to build a modern solution using their database AstraDB, and the project should have the potential to become the next unicorn.

Before this hackathon I had worked with different teams for building ideas, but to find a unique executable idea with least drawbacks nearly seemed impossible. We had already gave up on hackathons by Accenture, Walmart etc due to unsettled ideas. With all setbacks, I still didn't give up my hackathon hunt to participate and then found this one somewhere on LinkedIn. The prizes were tempting but the hackathon was equally challenging as it required us to use a new technology that we had no clue before. Nevertheless, I sent the link of the hackathon with my previous team and disturbingly they ignored my text. I was hopeless by then. But the next day while randomly talking with one of my best friends, Piyush, I casually mentioned about the hackathon. He seemed to show interest on working for it only if I get him an idea. Without wasting more time I asked him to bring a team mate and I myself called one, and we formed a new group of four. Initially we were thinking of not-so-life-changing ideas, we were clearly short of them, still I would always appreciate that we had the zeal to build and participate. But finding a unique idea was really the deal.

Surprisingly, in the mean time I suffered from high fever, nearly my body temperature ranging above 103 F, as we really didn't get to know the reason, I had to undergo COVID test for the given situation in our country right now. The next morning I went to SCB Medical and Hospital for the test, and after it was done while returning my eyes caught the attention of nearly thousands of people gathering around a building and making a queue almost till the footpath of the main roads. When I asked my mother about what was really going on there, as in these times of COVID with social distancing norms how can people crowd around, she answered me that the place was outdoor visiting halls where patients were waiting for their appointments with the doctor. I was greatly convinced by then that this was a real problem and needs our attention at the earliest. Crowded waiting areas are not only inconvenient but also a breeding ground of germs and spread of viruses. Immediately after coming back home, I searched on the internet to check if this solution project already exists, but was happy to find out that it did not. I shared the idea with my teammates and they happily backed me up along with their own crucial inputs. We decided upon making a virtual waiting room application which would facilitate the patients to book appointments in the comfort of their homes and check their position in the queue in real-time and visit the clinic only when their turn is nearer. That would also enable patients to wait for their turns in places they are comfortable at instead of crowding around or waiting in queues. We also planned some additional features of keeping the records of appointments of patient and also check the time and days the doctor is available.

While beginning the work, the major challenge was to work with AstraDB in our backend, but one of my teammates, Rupayan came forward and without even a bit of prior knowledge or any resources available in the internet, he developed it with utmost dedication. I believe they should have hired him for that. The front-end would never have the charm that it has without my teammate Adyasha, and Piyush chose to write logic given his terrible attempts at the UI. It was really an amazing experience working with all of you, we saw a lot of things, from thinking we can't make it to actually reaching the end. After immense hardwork, and overcoming several setbacks that we faced in the building duration we completed the project. We faced issues while deployment, sometimes we had to sit upto 2 am even but finally we did it.

We never imagined a position, it was completely for an experience but when the results were declared we were overwhelmed to realise that we secured a position of 7th rank (worldwide) and won cash prizes. We also stood among Top 30 first quality submissions and got awarded. We were also individually featured in Top 75 Hacker List and bagged Tshirts, swags etc. It was never about the money or the prizes, it was all about the experience and without any doubt we had the best experience of our lifetime.

When we heard the results, Adyasha told me that she was so happy that I brought the team together and put the idea forward and that led to all this. From deep inside my heart, I replied that it is only the other way around for me, I had rejected numerous ideas, changed several teams, I know the value of the backing up that my team gave me and it was all because of that, it's always all about the team. I haven't felt any more happy these days than I felt in that moment that day.