From Code to Collab

 

The tech-fest season has officially begun! With various universities announcing their techfests and the wide range of contests, it is impossible to stay out of the loop. One kind of event that has a huge following of engineering students is the "thon" - hackathons, makeathons, ideathons. You name it, there might probably be a "thon" event about it. The thon events are usually 24-48 hours long marathons of solving a problem statement and are pretty challenging. But in those challenges lie the beauty of being an engineering student, and one such event introduced me to the proper engineer's life.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the internal Smart India Hackathon conducted by my university. It had a huge turnout, with 165+ teams locked in at the biggest auditorium we have. While the teams I knew started working on their problem statements way before the actual hackathon, my team and I took about a week to choose our problem statement. After rounds of discussions and evaluating what we knew and didn't, we ended up picking a statement that only involved web dev. We had to make a price comparison website to promote the Government-e-Marketplace. Either a brand new website or a redesign of the existing one. Must be simple for a bunch of CS kids, except for the fact that we had less than 24 hours to make a working MVP. 

The hackathon kicked off on a blistering Friday afternoon, with power cuts and internet issues frequenting the initial hours. We started working around 5-6 p.m., three hours after the official kick-off. After a while of tutorial bingeing, making test files, and trying to calm each other down, we realised that this event was more than just a time frame to build a solution. It was also to socialize with like-minded people and have fun. With a refined mindset, we took breaks in turns, socialising with friends and new people, and turned our coding sessions into jamming sessions. 

This was the first time I got to witness the campus at late hours, and the first time I completely skipped sleep. Midnight snacks and tea got us going, and even though the team disagreed on a lot of things, we had a basic MVP with a great plan and decent functioning by the end of round 1. We were able to pull off a good presentation, and we got shortlisted for round 2.  (I had to travel back to college because I was so convinced that we wouldn't make it :) )

In round 1, we were judged by professors from my university. But in round 2, in addition to that team, we were also judged by external judges, who had a very prolific working experience. On average, we did good, but deep down we knew that our MVP wasn't enough. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience. Being able to qualify in the top 60 out of 165+ teams of six people each is not an ordinary feat, and it wouldn't have been possible without the dedication and support of my teammates. 

I had an amazing experience overall, and would definitely do it again when I get the chance. Although burning the midnight oil had huge effects on my sleep cycle later on, midnight jammings and conversations with friends and new acquaintances are memories that I'd cherish forever. 

Within those 24 hours lie a few struggling moments, a few fantastic ones, a few "Eureka!" moments and tons of happy memories.

Edit: A few hours after this post went live, a revised selection list was sent out with additional teams added, and we got in! The game isn't over after all.