Backyard Hacks Hackathon: Trekking New Space
First ever hackathon done and dusted. I could still feel the adrenaline rush and euphoric feeling when you look at the work you have done, things you have learnt in such a short amount of time.
For more on how we built it, what we have built, please check out:
Things I’ve learnt
Importance of software development methodologies
It is so easy for each engineer to be siloed in whatever task they are assigned to that they tend to forget other pieces. There needs to be some alliance or glue to make sure the project is a single piece in the end. It is even more difficult because of remote working. There needs to be someone who is constantly coordinating, communicating to make sure we are not over-building and different components can work synchronously.
Endless possibilities
I am amazed by the scope of technologies that were displayed at the demo. There are more tools to help developers build things more than ever. The availabilites of tools created many techniques for developers to play around to make the product useful. The foundation knowledge of coding langugages we learn in school come in handy for us to learn new tools quickly.
Practicality
Many ideas are innovative, and demonstrate strong tech capabilities but how many tackle the problems that need to be solved. Ideas need to be built on the ground of human vulnerability, desire for things that bring them money, ease.
Conclusion
it was one of the most rewarding experience with very steep learning curve. I highly encourage students or anyone to use hackathons as a way to learn new languages and explore the possibilities of tech. I believe the pandemic has shown the resilience of tech and has accelerated businesses’ digital transformation. Even banks are claiming themselves a tech company and will have 50% of their employees working in tech. Being able to build and ship products quickly will be a skillset that everyone needs.