Recent hackathon winners reveal the secrets to their success
by Derek Rodriguez
What do you think of when you hear the word hackathon? Techies coming together to pore over complex code? Not exactly. Traditional hackathons might have been closer to coding shootouts but over the years, they have evolved to require business, decision making, critical thinking, communication and time management skills – all competencies needed in real life.
It’s no surprise then that companies often use hackathons to identify, and even directly recruit, young talent.
Thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of NTU’s courses and opportunities to meet teammates with complementary skills, many NTU students and teams have taken pole position in recent hackathons. They share their winning tips.
TIP 1: FORM A TEAM WITH COMMON PASSIONS AND DIVERSE SKILLS
A. BUILD YOUR DREAM TEAM
“We built teams of smart and dedicated individuals with different skills. For example, one of our hackathon teams had two software specialists, two people skilled in hardware, and one well-versed in strategy and presentation.”
– Chaanan Anand, Year 3, Business & Computer Engineering
🏆hacksingapore 2023 (Sustainability Track)
B. FIND TEAMMATES WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS
“We started out discussing how to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) in gaming and blockchain technology during meals and formed our team from there. Each of us brought unique skills in AI, business, blockchain, non-fungible tokens and design to the table.”
– Team Kallos: Howell Chan, Cheng Lin and Eunice Lee, Year 2, Renaissance Engineering Programme
🏆Port63 Challenge 2023 (Web 3.0 Track)
C. TREAT IT LIKE A STARTUP
“I’ve always gone to hackathons with my best friend. We push each other to be ambitious and aim high. A hackathon team is like a small startup and it’s important to have teammates who work well together.”
– Aishik Nagar, Class of 2022, Electrical & Electronic Engineering
🏆Google Developer Solutions Challenge and Microsoft APAC Hackathon
TIP 2: FIND A GAP TO FILL, AND DO IT CREATIVELY
A. SOLVE A REAL-LIFE PROBLEM
“We proposed a financial web application for investors and traders, providing an intuitive dashboard for real-time market insights and in-depth risk analysis. The judges said our product was the most effective one and dealt with the problem at hand.”
– Pareena Kaur, Year 3, Business & Computer Science
🏆Citi HackOverflow 2023
Pareena Kaur (second from right) with her team at Citi HackOverflow.
B. IDENTIFY MARKET GAPS
“We built a platform that offers comprehensive career preparation resources tailored to people with disabilities. This not only addressed an underserved demographic but also contributed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which is the objective of the hackathon, by promoting inclusive employment practices and reducing inequalities.”
– Jeez Associates: Edward Liew and Liu Jiahui, Year 3, Accountancy & Business; Edward Ng and Samuel Quek, Year 3, Business; and Deng Zhiji, Year 2, Accountancy & Business
🏆SDG Open Hack Singapore 2023
TIP 3: YOUR IDEA MUST WORK
A. DON’T BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW
“Focus on the important tasks first and leave the details for later. It’s better to have a simple product that is complete and well-explained instead of a complex but half-baked solution that your team can’t submit on time.”
– Chaanan Anand
Chaanan Anand (far left) and his team at hacksingapore 2023.
B. HAVE A REALISTIC PLAN
“It’s easy to overestimate how much you can do, and you may have difficulty implementing all your ideas from your brainstorming. I’ve learnt it is better to focus on building one or two features first, then branch out from there.”
– Andrew Oak, Year 3, Computer Science
🏆SUTD What The Hack 2023
C. KEEP YOUR PRESENTATION SIMPLE
“Don’t overwhelm your audience with heaps of data. Instead, carefully choose which piece of information to present to balance between being informative and understandable.”
– Jeez Associates
TIP 4: FIND EXPERIENCED MENTORS
A. REACH THE NEXT LEVEL WITH INDUSTRY INSIDERS
“We got help from Simon Siah, a mentor at NTU’s innovation arm, and from Joana Lacerda, Head of NFT at cryptocurrency platform Algorand, one of the organisers of the hackathon. Their advice guided us in product development.”
– Team Kallos
B. GET HELP IF YOU HIT A ROADBLOCK
“We faced challenges with integrating human resources into our solution. Apart from researching industry trends and user preferences from employment platforms like LinkedIn to improve our pitch, we sought guidance from experts, such as an award-winning corporate affairs veteran invited to the event and a seasoned HR practitioner that our school connected us with.”
– Jeez Associates
THE PERKS OF WINNING A HACKATHON
AID FOR YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY
“Although we finished third in the Algorand Global Hackathon, one of the company’s venture associates is helping us find ways to release our product to the market.”
– Team Kallos
RECOGNITION FROM BIG-NAME EMPLOYERS
“I’ve joined ten hackathons as an NTU student, and my performance at the JP Morgan Code For Good hackathon led to my being shortlisted for a summer internship recently. When I applied for another internship at TikTok, the recruiter recognised me from their hackathon.”
– Andrew Oak
OVERSEAS OPPORTUNITIES
“We got invited to an exclusive four-week summer school in Geneva, Switzerland, to create innovative solutions around the United Nations’ global goals that urge action to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone.”
– Jeez Associates
This story was published in the Mar-Apr 2024 issue of HEY!. To read it and other stories from this issue in print, click here.
